


No Tomorrow

by Spockzilla



Series: No Tomorrow [1]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Crying, Drinking, Fanart, Finally more Baz!!!!!!!!!!, Football, Full Disclosure, Groundhog Day, Kissing, Late for breakfast, Lots of references including references to other fan fics, M/M, Mild Homophobic Language, Not a lot of Baz rn but there will be more, Pranks, Simon POV, Simon has seen Harry Potter, Simon is a thot, This Baz is empty! YEET!, Timey-Wimey, Violence, burning sensation when you eat scones, butter eating, dumb simon, some lines are nicked straight from Carry On, take a chance on me, thirsty boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 06:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17503490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spockzilla/pseuds/Spockzilla
Summary: “Why didn’t you wake me?” I growl groggily into my pillow.“It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty,” he snaps. I wonder if super hearing is a vampire thing.“You threw my alarm clock into the moat first year!” I shout over the music.“Not my problem,” he says, as he slams the door shut behind him.





	1. DAY ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I catch my breath realizing he is playing Abba on full volume and it’s not a Humdrum attack.

**DAY ONE**

  
I almost fall out of bed as I spasm awake. I don’t know what’s happening but it’s loud. My heart is racing as I look around the room wildly. I see Baz’s face reflected in the mirror as he fiddles with his hair.

_If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_  
_Take a chance on me_

I catch my breath realizing he is playing Abba on full volume and it’s not a Humdrum attack. It’s Take a Chance On Me. I’m not sure if he likes this song or if he thinks I don’t. I do. But it’s better if he never finds out.

I glare at him and either he doesn’t notice or pretends not to. Normally he’s not up this early and I can get ready for breakfast in peace. I look at the clock and see he’s not up early. _I’m late_. Very late. I’ll miss breakfast if I don’t get there soon.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I growl groggily into my pillow.

“It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty,” he snaps. I wonder if super hearing is a vampire thing.

“You threw my alarm clock into the moat first year!” I shout over the music.

“Not my problem,” he says, as he slams the door shut behind him.

I growl and get out of bed then stomp to his side of the room. I’m still tired. I was up past midnight helping penny with a project. Everything still looks blurry.

I clumsily yank out cords from the wall. The room goes silent followed by a clatter. One of Baz’s football trophies got pulled off the shelf from the speaker cord. It's on the floor broken into three pieces.

Shit. He’s really proud of his trophies. He’s going to notice right away.

I point my wand at it and say, “ _ **as you were!**_ ”

It breaks into six more pieces and the smaller of the pieces disintegrates… Fuck.

I set all the pieces on his desk and get out a piece of paper. I don’t want him to think I did this on purpose and retaliate so I write, “ _Sorry, Baz. I accidentally broke your trophy and Idk how to fix it._ ”

That’s the best I can do for now so I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed. Even though it’s a Saturday I still put on my uniform. I quickly tie my tie, put my books in my bag, and head out the door.

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table.Thank Morgana, they’ve saved me some scones.

I sit down with them. I mumble a hello while they stare at me.

“You’re late,” Penny tells me.

“I know. I overslept and Baz of course didn’t bother to wake me up,” I sigh.

As soon as I mention Baz, my eyes flicker to Agatha and I see her look across the room. I turn around to see what she’s looking at, and of course it’s Baz. And he smirks at her. I turn back around and see Agatha has gone pink.

We’ve broken up. She can get smirked at by whoever she wants. But why does it have to be _Baz_ of all people?

I stuff my mouth with scones to stop myself from saying anything. Penny must have spelled them hot before I sat down because my mouth feels like it’s on fire, but I’m committed to not spitting it out. Not in front of Agatha.

I can see why she’d like him (Baz). They both belong to the club and he’s accustomed to all the posh crap that I’ll never get right, like regattas and galas and, I don’t know, polo matches. Plus he’s fit as a goblin. He’d be bloody perfect if he weren't evil. Plus he’s definitely a vampire.

And I can’t even complain because Penny says I talk about Baz too much, and if bring it up with Agatha, she gets upset and dismisses me as being jealous. Maybe I am being jealous. But even if I am, he is still evil. She’s my friend and I don’t want her to get hurt. What’s bloody wrong with that?

I think they know what I’m thinking because they both look a little annoyed. Especially Agatha.

I just keep shoveling scones in my mouth. Either they’ve cooled down now or my mouth is too burnt to feel it anymore.

After what feels like an eternity of an awkward silence, Penny suggests we go to the library to study. “We have an essay to write and an exam to study for,” she reminds me.

I swallow my mouthful of scone and say, “Okay, yeah,” and look at Agatha.

“I was going to go for a run then study in my room. But I’ll see you at the game,” she tells us as she gets up.

I smile, and say, “see you there.”

She smiles back a genuine smile. The kind you can see in someones eyes. I’ve been worried that we’re drifting apart, but maybe it’s nothing that can’t be salvaged.

* * *

When Penny and I get to the library, we start getting out our stuff and putting it on the table. She gets out her laptop and I go to do the same and grumble when I realize that this morning I left in such a hurry that I forgot mine. Because Baz finds a way to ruin everything for me from my relationship with Agatha to basic things like studying.

“Before you start whinging about Baz, don’t,” Penny warns. “We can both work off my laptop.” I don’t know how she always seems to know what I’m thinking. I used to think she was psychic but she says there’s no such thing.

“I wasn’t going to whinge,” I tell her.

“It’s bad enough that both you and Agatha drag me to the football games just so you can watch Baz,” she complains.

“Agatha goes to watch Baz?” I ask.

Penny rolls her eyes more forceful than necessary.

“That’s not the point,” she tells me.

I slump in my chair a bit. I’m not sure if Penny means that about Agatha. But I know she means it about me. I do enjoy football, I really do. But I didn’t start going to the games regularly until I started following Baz around. I knew he was up to something so I had to keep eyes on him as often as I could to catch him in the act. But I do really support the team even though he carries it.

“Okay, okay,” I say. “Let’s study.”

She opens her laptop, and on the screen is the prompt for our Greek assignment. As I look at the screen I put my elbows on the table and run my fingers through my hair and pull a bit. I look over at Penny.

  
"This is all Greek to me," I tell her, smiling slyly.

Penny rolls her eyes and groans. But then she laughs, and pushes me lightly.

Since we can’t work on both our essays at the same time she helps me write mine. And honestly, that’s what we’d be doing even if I had my laptop. It takes forever because she doesn’t want to do the assignment for me but I couldn't conjugate a sentence to save my life. So she has to walk through every sentence with me.

It’s a painful process that takes longer than it should.

* * *

When we finish up at the library I’m exhausted. I’m seeing spots. It’s already time for lunch and I’m starved.

When we get near the doors of the dining hall Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

Ever since she came back to school, her voice has been rather squeaky. Some people make fun of her, but I don’t think it’s funny at all. I don’t know how he did it, but Baz stole her voice. That’s the worst thing you can do to a magician- maybe worse than murder; a magician can’t do magic without words.

“Hey, Philippa,” I say and smile at her.

“Do you want to go to the game tonight?” she asks me, sounding a bit like Moaning Myrtle.

“Yeah- I mean no- I mean, I’m going with Penny. I’ll see you there, yeah?” I say. I’m glad she’s back at Watford but ever since Agatha and I broke up she’s been following me everywhere. Penny says I should tell her that I have no interest in going out with her, but that seems a tad harsh.

She puts her hand on my arm and says, “I’ll save you a seat then.”

“Oh. Umm. Thanks,” I say, and smile at her, hoping that will end this conversation.

She smiles and says, “I’ll see you tonight,” then winks at me and walks away.

Penny glares at me and I shrug.

After we fix our plates and sit down, penny looks at me and sighs.

“What?” I ask, mouth full of roast beef.

“Your love life is a mess,” she tells me.

“Thanks, Pen,” I say, and stuff more meat in my mouth.

“Si,” she says softly. “You keep pining for Agatha and you two were a terrible couple, and you keep stringing along Philippa. Maybe you should find someone else.”

“Agatha and I weren’t that bad,” I tell her.

  
“Yes. You were,” She says flatly.

I scowl at her. Part of me thinks she has a point. But part of me also really loves Agatha. How could it be bad to be with someone you love?

From down the table a bit, Rhys hollars, “Simon! I got the last scone. Do you want it?”

“You’re the best, mate,” I tell him.

  
He holds it out towards me.

I take out my wand, and Penny’s eyes go wide as I say, “ ** _Accio scone!_** ”

The scone explodes. There’s a few gasps from people around us. It slowly rains crumbs over us.

“Simon!” Penny scalds me. I already feel like an idiot.

“Sorry,” I call to Rhys. My face is hot from embarrassment. He looks shell shocked.

“What did I tell you about casting Harry Potter spells?” She asks as a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I got it to work once,” I mumble.

“They're really dangerous! Someone in America cast expelliarmus on his friend and it ripped his arms off," she tells me.

  
“That’s horrible. But it’s hard to know what works and what doesn’t,” I say.

“None of them work. I told you not to watch Harry Potter. It’s full of nonsense and bad examples,” she says.

“Wingardium leviosa works,” I say.

“No.’ ** _It's Levi-o-sa, not Levio-sar,_** ’ works. It’s the only one,” she says sternly.

We spend a long time arguing about how I shouldn’t have watched Harry Potter. She’s probably right. I keep accidentally calling Normals muggles, it gave me a few conspiracy ideas about The Humdrum (like that maybe it killed my parents, or maybe it wants me dead because I’m a mudblood) and that’s not the first time I’ve blown something up with one of those spells.

Penny is wrong about one thing though. Quidditch is real. I’m pretty sure. Except Normals play it, and they don’t fly. But they do use brooms. I’ve seen videos of it. It’s brilliant. I’m hoping that if I ever make it to uni, there will be a team I can join. I think I’d make a good beater.

Before we know it the dining hall is empty because the game is starting. We both need to drop off our books in our rooms so we agree to meet on the pitch.

* * *

I get to my room and my laptop is open on my bed. Except, it looks like someone stomped on it then lit it on fire. It’s crushed and charred. The screen is flickering like crazy.

There’s a note next to it. I pick it up and it says, “ _Sorry, Snow. I accidentally broke your laptop and Idk how to fix it._ ”

I growl and the note gets crumpled in my fist. What the fuck? The trophy really was an accident. And it’s not like he even needs the trophy (he has at least six of them). All my schoolwork was on that laptop.

I slam my laptop closed and put it on my desk. Maybe Penny can fix it tomorrow… I’m not sure _**if as you were**_ can unmelt a keyboard though. I put my bookbag on top on it.

I think about breaking something else of Baz’s. I could throw his ipod in the moat. Or his blankets. It’s not like I own anything else for him to break.

He’s so bloody clever though he’d probably think of something. It’s probably best not to fan the flames. I need to get ready for the game anyways.

I take off the blazer and tie and put on my purple Watford lacrosse sweatshirt. Agatha plays. I wanna make sure she knows I still support her team.

* * *

I get to the pitch and look for Penny or Agatha, working my way through the crowd.

“Sorry, sorry,” I repeat as I bump into people. I don’t know if anyone can actually hear me over all the yelling because the rival team just scored a goal.

I make my way to the front and stop to watch. Baz looks furious. He glares at the crowd as he runs back to his starting position.

He lifts his shirt to wipe sweat off his face. He has abs. Of course he does. The jammy bastard looks like he was chiseled out of marble.

The game starts back up. The ball works its way towards the enemy goal, and someone passes the ball to Baz. Baz tries to score a goal but he completely misses.

People are booing at him. Normally he’s an unstoppable force of precision and pure talent. I hope this isn’t because he’s pissed about the trophy. I’d hate to be the reason we lose a game.

“Simon! Over here!” an all too familiar squeak comes from the stands.

I go rigid and pretend like I don’t hear it. I know that’s not the nicest thing in the world to do, but I’m also too distracted by the game to care much. I don’t think much short of a Humdrum attack would make me look away. The ball keeps bouncing from one side of the pitch to the other like ping pong.

“Simon! I saved you a seat!” She yells a little louder.

People around me are turning to look at her. I don’t think she’ll keep buying that I can’t hear her. But everyone turns back to the game, yelling because the enemy team scored another goal on us.

The players go back to their positions and the game starts again. They start kicking the ball and it quickly makes its way to the side where I’m standing. Baz is trying to steal the ball away from the other player.

“Simon!” she screeches deafeningly.

Baz looks at me and kicks the ball straight at my head. There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.


	2. DAY TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’s playing the same song as yesterday and pretending not to notice me again.

**DAY TWO**

 

I wake up with a jolt to deafening music.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

I see Baz fiddling with his hair in the mirror and I glare at him.

He’s playing the same song as yesterday and pretending not to notice me again. I don’t take my eyes off him. After yesterday I have half a mind to break his nose again.

When he turns around from the mirror he says, “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

“You used numpty last time. Get new material,” I tell him as he heads toward the door.

He pauses with his hand on the doorknob, and turns to at me like he’s unamused and says, “How about fuckwit then? Or git? Prat, illiterate muppet, imbecile, dipshit, troglodyte. Take your pick.”

He waits for me to say something. I’m so angry but I can’t think of what to say to that. I can feel my face heat up and I know it’s red.

“I’ll leave you to think about it then,” he says and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

I violently throw the covers off of me and stomp to his side of the room.

I grab the chord for the speaker and give it a forceful yank. The room goes silent followed by a clatter. One of Baz’s football trophies is broken on the floor again.

It looks kinda like the same one. But it’s only in three pieces. Did he fix it?

I look at the others and they all look similar so I can’t tell. But I don’t see another broken one. Maybe he threw it out.

I take the broken trophy to my side of the room and put it in the rubbish bin. I crumple up some paper to put on top of it. Maybe if he doesn’t see it’s broken he won’t even notice it’s gone.

I look at the clock and know I’m late again, so I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed. I quickly tie my tie, put my books in my bag, and head out the door.  

I pause at the door and remember my laptop. My poor burnt laptop. I go back and shove it in my bag as is, then hurry to the dining hall.

* * *

I get into the nearly empty dining hall and see Penny and Agatha in their usual spot. Thank Merlin, they saved me scones again.

“Sorry I’m late again,” I say as I sit down.  
  
“Again?” Penny asks.

 I groan thinking about all the shit Baz did yesterday. “Yeah. Baz is the worst roommate anyone has ever had ever.”

As soon as I mention Baz, my eyes flicker to Agatha and I see her look across the room. I turn around to see what she’s looking at, and of course it’s Baz. And he smirks at her. Is this a fucking routine now? I glare at him until he looks away.

I turn around and Agatha is flushed. I glare at my scones to avoid looking at her, as I eat them.

Penny must have spelled them hot again because it’s burning my mouth. I haven’t spit food out in front of Agatha yet and I’m not going to start now, so I just keep eating it like nothing's wrong.

We sit in silence, with nothing to distract me from all my angry thoughts. I keep thinking of all the ways I want to hurt Baz. He’s been going too far and I need to put an end to it.   

The dining hall is starting to smell like smoke. I know my magic is leaking all over the place and Penny and Agatha can probably feel it. They exchange glances. I try taking steady deep breaths.

“We should go to the library. We have an essay to write and an exam to study for,” Penny suggests.

I nod and look at Agatha.

“I was going to go for a run then study in my room. But I’ll see you at the game,” she tells us as she gets up.

I smile and say, “Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

When she leaves I turn to Penny and ask, “Does she have a lacrosse game today?”

“No,” Penny says.

“Then what game was she talking about?” I ask.

“The football game,” Penny says like it should be obvious.

“That was yesterday,” I tell her.

“No. It’s tonight,” she says.

“You’re joking. Didn’t you see that ludicrous display last night?” I ask.

She gives me a weird look. I don’t know what is meant, but maybe she wasn’t at the game last night and that’s why I didn’t see her and why she doesn’t remember.

The students on duty to clean tables after breakfast come out so we get up and head to the library.

* * *

After we’ve sat at our table in the library Penny pulls out her laptop and I remember the state of mine.

“I didn’t want to bring it up at breakfast, but yesterday Baz trashed my laptop. Is there any chance you can fix it?” I ask.

“Why would he trash your laptop?” she asks, surprised.

“Because he’s committed to making my life as difficult as possible,” I explain as I get it out.

I open it, and it looks totally normal. No cracks, and no scorch marks. I am gobsmacked.

“It looks fine to me,” Penny says, looking at it.

I rub my hand across the keyboard, feeling it. There’s no sign of how wrecked it was yesterday.

“Why would he do this?” I ask quietly, talking to myself.

Penny looks at me confused.

“Why would Baz destroy my laptop then fix it?” I ask.

“Maybe he felt bad?” she offers.

“Baz? Feel bad?” I scoft.

“Why else would he fix your laptop?” she asks.

I growl in frustration.

“I don’t know! Maybe he’s up to something? He’s always up to something,” I say too loudly. Then we look around to see if we’re disturbing anyone. We seem to have the library to ourselves.

I’ve had this weird feeling all day. I know Baz is doing something but I don’t know what. I should find him and ask him what he’s up to. Or maybe I can catch him doing something.

I go to stand but Penny pulls me back down by my arm.

“Maybe his plan is to distract you so you fail Greek?” She asks.

That doesn’t seem like a very evil plan. I’m sure it’s more devious than that. But, this wouldn’t be the first time he’s plotted something that was more of an inconvenience than a malicious plot. If his goal is to goat me into wasting time trailing him then I should ignore him and study.

Penny opens her laptop, and on the screen is the prompt for our Greek assignment. The one from yesterday.

“How about we work on your essay before you go after Baz?” She suggests but I can barely hear her. Things are starting to make sense. But also not making sense.

“Penny… What day is it?” I ask.

“Saturday,” she says, looking at me concerned.  

I jam my laptop back in my bag and Penny does the same. I get up and start walking and she follows.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

“It’s not Saturday, Pen. It’s Sunday. Somehow Baz has spelled the whole school to forget yesterday,” I tell her as I walk out of the library.

* * *

The whole way to our room Penny questioned me. _How do you know it was Baz? How did he do it? Why did he do it? Why would only you remember?_ I told her everything that I knew, which was nothing.

When we walked into the room she asked, “what’s the plan then?”

“To search Baz’s stuff for clues,” I tell her.

“That’s a huge invasion of his privacy. Are you sure you wanna cross that line, Si?” She asks.

“He forfeited his right to privacy when he gave the school a memory wipe,” I say, clutching my fists.

“It could be something else though,” she says.

“What else could it possibly be?” I ask.

“It could be The humdrum,” she suggests.

“I guess that’s possible. But I don’t feel The Humdrum so I don’t think that’s it,” I say.

“Well,” she says slowly like she’s still thinking about it. “Normally I wouldn’t consider this, but your magic doesn’t always follow the rules. Maybe somehow you have developed precognition.”

“I’m already cognizant though? Wouldn’t I develop postcognition?” I ask.

“No. Precognition is the ability to tell the future. Maybe it feels like things are repeating because you know what’s going to happen?” She suggests.

I sit on my bed.

It makes some sense. It would explain why I know what’s going to happen today. But. Do I really know what’s going to happen today? Everything that has happened so far has been a bit different than I remember it being. Nothing expected has happened.

“So far nothing has happened the same way,” I tell her.

“Is it divergent because of other people's actions or your actions?” She asks.

“What?” I ask.

“Are things happening differently because you’re acting different or because other people are?” She rephrases.

“Oh. Umm. I’m not sure,” I say.

“Is there some way we can test it?” She asks.

“Uhh. Yeah. The game. Baz misses a goal and they score on us twice. We could see if that happens the same way,” I say.

“Perfect,” she says.

“But, if it is Baz, we should search his stuff now before he has time to hide it,” I say.

“There’s no reason to suspect Baz,” she says.

“He’s been especially nasty to me recently. I think it’s been to distract me from his plot,” I tell her.

She rolls her eyes but says, “okay.”

I stand up and stare at his side of the room, unsure of where to start. I feel nervous. It’s wrong to go through people stuff. But this is different.

I walk up to his wardrobe and open it and Penny sits on his bed to watch. I finger through all the clothes that are hanging. Then I start taking out stuff sitting at the bottom. I find his violin case, a football, a few books. That’s it. He’s a neat freak.

I open the top drawer and it’s filled with folded pajamas, socks and pants. I shouldn’t be looking at Baz’s underwear drawer, so I quickly close it.

“Baz has a lot of salt and vinegar crisps in his nightstand,” Penny says, as I hear her shut the drawer to his nightstand.

“Yeah. He eats them at night when he thinks I’m sleeping and brushes the crumbs between our beds,” I tell her as I open the bottom drawer of the wardrobe.

“Eww. I didn’t expect Baz to be so messy,” she says.

In the drawer there’s a lot of books. There’s textbooks that look really new and some that look really old. There’s a few novels I don’t recognize. I pick up a dark blue journal. It looks like something made a long time ago but it’s not worn. It has fairies embossed on the leather and a brass clasp. I move my hand to open it, and then Penny ghasps, causing me to drop it.

“What?” I ask, quickly turning around.

Her eyes are wide as she pushes something under the bed.

“What is it?” I ask again in a bit of a panic, and reach for what appears to be a rectangular black box under Baz’s bed.

 “ _Don’t_ ,” Penny warns and puts her arms out to stop me.

“Penny, if it’s something dangerous, I have to know,” I say, getting a little frustrated.

“Do you trust me?” She asks.

I pause for a moment then say, “of course I do.”

“Then, never ever EVER look under Baz’s bed,” she says sternly.

“But I-”

“Promise me,” she says.

“Why won’t-”

“Promise me,” she insists.  

We stare at each other for a few moments before I sigh and say, “okay.”  
  
“Say you promise,” she insists again.

“I promise I will never look under Baz’s bed,” I say, annoyed.

After she eyes me to make sure she believes me, I turn back to the the wardrobe. I pick up the journal again and I touch the clasp and it shocks me. I wave my hand around, trying to shake the pain away. It really hurt.

I touch the clasp again, and it shocks me again and I growl.

I take a deep breath and touch the clasp again, and try to open it as it shocks me. I last about three seconds before I can’t bear it anymore and cry out in pain.

Penny looks over at me and I say, “I think I’ve found something,” as my eyes water.

She comes up next to me to inspect it. I warn her about the clasp and she takes it from me.

“I think it’s spelled for privacy. I think you need a password or phrase to open it,” she says.

“What do you think he’s hiding?” I ask.

“It could just be his personal journal,” she says.

“I’ve never seen him write in it,” I say.

She purses her lips as she gives it thought.

After a moment my stomach growls loudly and I realize how late it is.

“Baz is going to come back to the room sometime to get his football kit soon. We should go somewhere and try to open this,” I tell her.

* * *

We take the journal with us and decide to stop at the dining hall to get food before we go to the library.

Penny and I are in the middle of discussing ways we can try to open the journal when Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

I say, “hi, Philippa,” as I keep walking.

She walks next to me and in her Minnie Mouse voice asks, “do you want to go to the game tonight?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you there,” I say trying to end the conversation.

“Really?” she asks, struggling to match my speed.

“Yeah,” I say, not looking at her.

“I’ll save you a seat then,” she says.

“Right,” I say.

She runs off.

“Do you think it’ll be dangerous to attempt to open the journal around people?” I ask Penny, continuing our conversation.

Penny grabs my arm, leans in, and quietly exclaims, “You just agreed to go out with Philippa Stainton!”

“What? No,” I say.

“Yeah, you did,” she says.

“No. I’m not actually going to sit with her. We have more important stuff to deal with,” I say.

Penny glares at me and says, “she thinks this is a date.”

“No,” I say in disbelief. “She’s just friendly.”

Penny shakes her head.

“Oh no… She’ll understand that I’m not- umm- interested, right?” I ask.

Penny frowns. “Now that you agreed to go out with her, I’m not sure,” she says.

* * *

We bring some apples and bacon butties from the dining hall into an empty classroom.

I set the journal on the table and immediately start eating.

In between bites, I ask, “what do you think Baz’s password is?”

“You know him best.”

I think about it until I’ve finished my food, which happens quickly. I’m so hungry I eat it in about four bites..

I clear my throat and clearly say, _“I am Baz_ ,” and try to open it.

_ZAP!_

I close my eyes and hum in pain.

“Is it that bad?” she asks.

“It’s pretty bad.”

I take a deep breath and say, “ _King Pitch_.”

_ZAP!_

“ _I hate Simon!_ ”

_ZAP!_

“ _I hate Snow!_ ”

_ZAP!_

“ _I love blood!_ ”

_ZAP!_

“ _I hate the mage!_

_ZAP!_

“ _Password!_ ”

_ZAP!_

“Simon, stop!” Penny yells.

I breath heavily and inspect my hand. Aside from being a little red my finger looks fine despite the burning pain.

Penny says, “ _Natasha_ ,” and before I can stop her, she has her finger on the clasp

She whips her hand back and yells, “Fuck a nine-toed troll!”

“Are you okay?”

She nods and says, “ _mot de passe_ ,” and tries again, and yelps.

“What does that mean?” I ask her.

“It’s French for password. I thought it was worth a try.”

“Oh. Good Idea. _Je m'appelle Baz_.”

_ZAP!_

“Okay, maybe we should try something else,” she says, pointing her ring at the notebook.

“ ** _Open up_ **,” she says.

We look at each other and I ask, “Is there a way to know if it worked other than trying?”

“I don’t think so. Let's take turns,” she says.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll do it.”

She kicks my shin under the table and says, “you will not.”

“Oi!” I yell. “I can handle it.”

“I’m not going to let you do this by yourself.”

After we have a staring contest and I lose, I sigh and nod.

She touches it then inhales sharply as she recoils her hand and I can see a tear in her eye.

After a few seconds she swallows and says, “ ** _open book_**."

I touch the clasp.

_ZAP!_

She says, “ ** _Reveal your true colors_ **,” and touches it, and yells out in pain.

After a moment to recover she says, “ ** _show and tell_."**

I slowly bring my hand toward it and touch it.

_ZAP!_

“This thing is a bloody horcrux, Penny! It’s evil! We need a basilisk fang!” I yell.

“Horcruxes aren’t real, Simon. I told you not to watch Harry Potter. It’s full of nonsense and bad examples.”

“It is evil though, right?”

“Maybe… Maybe we should ask Baz.”

“Ask Baz? Like, go up to him and say ‘ _Wotcher, Baz. We found your horcrux. Can you tell us how to open it so we can figure out your plots_?’”

“No. Well. Kind of. I was thinking we could confront him and see how he reacts.”

* * *

We decided to corner Baz right after the game, but we go back to my room before we head to the pitch because Penny left her bag there.

As soon as we open the door I see the contents of my bag all over my bed, like someone turned my bag over and dumped everything out. Some of the books had fallen open and now have bent pages.

I stack all the books and notebooks together and notice my laptop isn’t here. I tell Penny and we start looking around Baz side of the room.

After a few minutes I growl when realize what happened.

I look in Baz’s rubbish bin and there it is. My computer snapped in several pieces. I kick his desk so hard another trophy falls over and breaks.

How’d he even find the trophy in my bin? He’s so fucking smart. No matter what I do, he’ll manage to one up me.

My only chance to figure out his plot is to use brute force and beat it out of him.

* * *

After Penny tried to fix my laptop (it turns on but it doesn’t work - it stays on a blue screen and makes a sound so bad it might be lethal to birds), I put on my purple lacrosse sweatshirt and we headed to the game.

We’re a bit late so the game has already started.

Penny wants to test the precognition thing while we wait for Baz so Penny shoves her way through the crowd and I follow until we’re in the front.

We make it in time to see the rival team just score a goal. The crowd boos around us.

Baz looks furious. He glares at the crowd as he runs back to his starting position.

He lifts his shirt to wipe sweat from his face and I clench my fists. I don’t know why but it really ruffles me.

I lean over to Penny and tell her, “That is one of the scores I was talking about. Next Baz is supposed to miss a goal.”

The game starts back up. As expected the ball works its way towards the enemy goal, and someone passes the ball to Baz. Baz tries to score a goal but he completely misses.

“There. Next they score on us again,” I tell her.

People are booing at him. As much as I hate him, it’s hard to watch him fail like this. Because I don’t want the team to lose. I support the team and he just happens to be on it.

“Simon! Over here!” an all too familiar squeak comes from the stands.

I go rigid and ignore it, hoping she’ll take the hint. Figuring out Baz’s plot is a lot more important than socializing with Philippa. This journal is evidence that he’s into some pretty dark stuff. So I keep watching as ball keeps bouncing from one side of the pitch to the other like ping pong.  

“Simon! I saved you a seat!” Phillipa yells a little louder.

I don’t take my eyes off the game but people around me are turning to look at her. Penny gives me a dirty look. But everyone turns back to the game, yelling because the enemy team scored another goal on us.

The players go back to their positions and the game starts again. They start kicking the ball and it quickly makes its way to the side where I’m standing. Baz is trying to steal the ball away from the other player.

“What happens next?” Penny asks.

“Simon!” Phillipa screeches deafeningly.

Oh shit.

Baz looks at me and kicks the ball straight at my head.

In that moment I realize my mistake. I thought since today went differently that the game would go differently. I was so sure Baz was doing this that I didn’t think that maybe I _am_ psychic. I’m the dumbest psychic ever.

Then there’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The box under Baz's bed is a reference to The Monster Under the Bed by SHARKMARTINI. If you haven't read it, you should. It's pretty great. (It is explicit btw.) I don't think I'll explicitly say what's in the box in this story so feel free to imagine whatever you want in it.


	3. DAY THREE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh no. It’s Abba. Not again.

**DAY THREE**

  
I wake up in a panic to loud music.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

Oh no. It’s Abba. Not again.

I see Baz’s face reflected in the mirror as he fiddles with his hair.

If Saturday is happening again, I think it’s safe to say that I’m not a psychic and Baz is up to something.

“What day is it?” I ask accusatively as I sit up.

He raises an eyebrow so perfectly it must be practiced.

“The Chosen One is so oblivious he doesn’t even know what day it is,” he states.

“Tell me,” I growl.

“It’s Monday you gormless idiot. And you’re about to be late for class. Not that it matters for you. Class has never helped you and that’s not going to change today.”

Monday? Thank Morgana. But what happened to Sunday? Maybe I was unconscious all of Sunday. Or maybe it makes sense that it’s Monday because Saturday was two days ago.

I look at the clock and realize I don’t have time to go to breakfast if I’m going to have any chance of getting to class on time.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I snap.

“It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty,” he snaps back. I don’t know why I bothered asking.

I huff and glare.

“Tick, tock, Snow,” he says, as he goes out the door.

I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed. I quickly tie my tie, put my books in my bag, and head out the door.

I pause at the door and remember my laptop. My poor non functioning laptop. I go back and shove it in my bag as is, then hurry to class.

* * *

By the time I get to the building my class is in, the halls are empty and quiet. Class must have already started.

I run to my classroom, and open the door, but there’s no one there.

I look around then sit at a table, unsure what else to do.

_Oh no._

I fish out my laptop and turn it on. It works. No annoying beeping sound.

I check the date. _It’s Saturday._

FUCK.

I slam the laptop shut, put it in my bag, and sit there quietly for a moment. Then I stand up and began yelling and kicking the table leg. I kicked it over and over again, while shouting about what a giant foul dickhead Baz is. The leg breaks and the table falls over.

I pick up my bag and run to the dining hall.

I get there right as Penny was leaving.

“Where is Baz?” I practically yell at her, scanning the room.

The hall is mostly empty aside from the students cleaning up. Some of them look up at me curiously.

“He left a while ago. What’s going on? Where were you?” she asks.

“Baz has been wiping the whole schools memories and I’m the only one who remembers,” I explain, trying to be quiet so people don’t overhear.

“Are you sure it’s Baz?” she asks, looking alarmed.

“Completely,” I tell her.  

We head up to my room while I explain to her everything that happened yesterday. I tell her about the journal and all the ways we tried to open it.

When we get there I pull out the journal and hand it to her so she can see for herself.

I warn her again about the clasp and sit on Baz’s bed and get out some of his crisps.

Penny raises an eyebrow at me when she hears the bag open and I just shrug.

I start eating because I missed breakfast and I don’t care about pissing Baz off at this point.

“Yesterday, did we show this to The Mage?” she asks.

I frown. Why didn’t we think of that before?

* * *

As it turns out, The Mage isn’t here today. So, Penny and I are back to where we were. In an empty classroom, attempting to spell the damned thing open again.

“ ** _Crack open_ **,” penny say, then touches the clasp. She hums in pain as she snatches her hand back.

I told her all the spells she tried yesterday, and she’s been coming up with new ones.

“ ** _On display_ **.”

_ZAP!_

So far they aren't working. But it’ll be the last one we try, right?

“ ** _Your secret is safe with me_ **.”

Penny reaches for the clasp, and I stop her.

“I know you want to take turns, but I’m not good with words, and I’m not coming up with any spells. So, you focus on that, and I’ll handle this part,” I tell her.

She frowns but nods.

_ZAP!_

“ ** _Show your hand._ **”

_ZAP!_

We sit in silence for a bit while she tries to think of another spell.

I stand up, pick up the journal and and Penny jumps as I start whacking it against the side of the table as hard as I can. Then I throw it on the ground and start stomping on it.

I pick it up and the clasp isn’t showing any sign of breaking. So I set it on another table and call the Sword of Mages.

“Simon, no!” Penny yells as I swing the sword down on it.

The clasp broke.

We wait in silence for a moment.

“That could have been really dangerous, you know,” she says.

I pick it up and open it. The page is blank. So I start flipping through the pages. They’re all blank.

“Why would he try to hide this?” I ask.

“I don’t know…”

I clench my fists.

“It must have been a distraction,” I say, and storm off back to my room. Penny follows.

* * *

When we get to my room I start taking the drawers out of Baz’s desk and dumping the contents on the floor.

It’s all normal stuff like pens, paper, a stapler. Stuff like that.

I know that posh arsehole has something hidden somewhere.

I go back to his wardrobe and start throwing his clothes on the floor. I’m doing it all so violently I’m out of breath.

I pause and turn to Penelope.

“Yesterday, you found something under Baz’s bed. You made me promise not to look. But I really need to know what is was. You have to look for me.”

She gives me a puzzled look, then looks under the bed. She pulls the box out, and slowly opens the lid. Her eyes go wide, then she puts the lid back on it and pushes it back under the bed..

“Simon. I promise you, whatever you think Baz is hiding, that’s not what’s in the box.”

“You could be wrong,” I say.

“I’m not. Drop it.”

I huff and turn back to the wardrobe.

I pull out the top drawer and dump it out. I expect it to land softly because it’s all socks and pants. But there’s a thunk.

A board, like a false bottom fell out. There’s also a few bottles of liquor and a really big gem.

I set the drawer down.The gem is shaped like a pear. The base is blue and it fades to orange at the top.

I pick it up and it sends a pleasant heat through my fingers. It’s definitely magic.

It’s beautiful. It makes me think of the Arkenstone from The Hobbit. The colors don’t move but it emits a slight brightness that makes me think of the flames from a gas stove.

“What do you think this is?” I ask Penny and hand it to her.

“It’s hot,” she says.

“But it feels kinda nice, right?”

“No,” she says. “It feels like a grease burn.”

I take it back from her.

“This is related to what’s happening though, yeah?” I ask.

“Anything is possible.”

“So we should destroy it?”

“No. We don’t know what it is, so destroying it could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?”

“Well, if it has the power to remove memories while being controlled, breaking it could release all it’s magic causing a power surge that could make us all forget everything. Maybe even who we are. Or it could curse whoever breaks it. It could explode. It could have something toxic inside. It could be soulbound to Baz and breaking it could kill him.”  
“And what a shame that’d be,” I scoft.

She frowns.

“We should go to lunch,” I say, looking at the clock. Baz will be here soon.

“You should stop touching it, since we don’t know what it does,” she says, as she starts digging through my wardrobe.

She gets a scarf and takes the gem. She carefully wraps it up and hands it back to me.

It doesn’t fit in my pocket so I empty out my bag and put in there.

* * *

When we get near the doors of the dining hall Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

I stop and close my eyes for a moment. I don’t want to do this right now.

I open my eyes and say, “hey, Philippa.”  

“Do you want to go to the game tonight?” she asks me, sounding a bit like she had been breathing helium.

I don’t have time for this.

“No. I don’t. I don’t like you. I have no interest in going out with you. Not now. Not ever. Please just leave me alone,” I say a bit exasperatedly.

She looks horrified. I immediately regret saying that. It’s worse than the look on her face when she lost her voice. She looked panicked then. She looks completely devastated now. Tears are welling in her eyes and her lip is trembling.

“Philippa,” I start.

But she runs away. I go to run after her, but Penny stops me.

This is Baz’s fault. If he didn’t wipe everyone's memories, this wouldn’t have happened. If he wasn’t constantly fucking with me like with the journal and making me believe I was late for class, I wouldn’t have been as irritable. If he didn’t have me distracted with this evil magic rock, I wouldn’t have dismissed her like that.

We go into the dining hall and I grumble to myself as I violently slam roast beef on my plate. It causes something to splat into Penny’s eye and she glares at me as she wipes it out.

“Sorry,” I mumble.

We sit down and start eating.

“I’m glad you finally told Philippa the truth, but you could have done it differently,” she says, not condescendingly, but sympathetically.

I sigh and keep shoveling hot beef in my mouth.

At least now she won’t distract Baz and I won’t get kicked in the face with the ball. Now I can actually confront him after the game.

“So, how do we figure out what the gem thing does?” I ask her when I’m done eating.

“I was thinking we could ask Baz.”

This is like what she wanted to do yesterday.

“To surprise him and see how he reacts?” I ask.

“Exactly,” she says, like she’s surprised and proud that I understood it.

“Alright. But we should go now so we have a good place to stand during the game.”

* * *

When we get there people are already gathering. We still have to push our way through the crowded a bit. But when we get to the front, we are able to secure a spot several meters from where Baz kicked the ball in my face.

When the players get on the pitch I see Baz scan the crowd. When he sees me he sneers. And it’s not a typical sneer. He’s somehow packed even more contempt and disgust into the sneer.

He glares at me until the game starts.

And he plays like shit. I didn’t think it was possible but I think he’s playing even worse than before. The other players are easily taking the ball from him.

People begin yelling because the rival team just scored a goal.

Baz looks furious. He glares at me as he runs back to his starting position as if his shitty playing was my fault.

He lifts his shirt to wipe sweat off his face while looking at me. He doesn’t scare me but that for some reason makes me nervous and I gulp. I feel too hot and it’s making my skin feel all prickly.   

The game starts back up. The ball works its way towards the enemy goal, and someone passes the ball to Baz. Baz tries to score a goal but he completely misses.

People are booing at him. I don’t think anyone has booed at him before. Aside from yesterday and the day before. But that was also today so I don’t know if that counts.

When the  ball keeps bouncing from one side of the pitch to the other like ping pong I notice that this time Philippa isn’t yelling for me which is a relief. I look over my shoulder a bit paranoid, but I don’t see her.

Soon everyone is yelling because the enemy team scored another goal on us.

The players go back to their positions and the game starts again. They start kicking the ball and it quickly makes its way to the side where I was standing yesterday. Baz is trying to steal the ball away from the other player again.

This time he succeeds and dribbles the ball toward me.

_Oh no._

Baz looks at me.

_But Philippa isn’t screeching my name this time._

He kicks the ball straight at my head.

_But I’m standing somewhere else._

There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.


	4. DAY FOUR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sound of Abba is filling me with rage. I feel it boiling under my skin.

**DAY FOUR**

 

I jerk awake to familiar music.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

The sound of Abba is filling me with rage. I feel it boiling under my skin.

I glare at Baz’s face reflected in the mirror as he fiddles with his hair.

That pompous git purposely kicked me in the face with a football.

Actually. That pompous git purposely kicked me in the face with a football three times.

I get out of bed and stare at him. If it wasn’t for the anathema, I would be tackling him right now.

He looks at me and says, “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

“I know what you’re doing,” I say.

“And what are you going to do about it?” he asks sounding bored as he walks to the door.

“I’m going to stop you,” I shout.

He hums and says, “good luck with that,” and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

I growl as I stomp to his side of the room.

I clumsily yank out cords from the wall. The room goes silent followed by a clatter. One of Baz’s football trophies got pulled off the shelf from the speaker cord. It's on the floor broken into three pieces.

I slide my hand across his shelf, pushing all his trophies to the floor.

I dump out the wardrobe drawer with the gem then wrap it in a scarf and put it in my bag.

I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed and head out the door, not bothering with my tie. 

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table. Thank Morgana, they save me scones every time.  

I sit down with them. I mumble a hello, unsure how to begin explaining things.  
  
“You’re late,” Penny tells me.

“I know… I have to talk to you about something. About Baz,” I say trying to be quiet.

As soon as I mention Baz, my eyes flicker to Agatha and I see her look across the room. I turn around to see what she’s looking at, and of course it’s Baz.

Why did I look? Why do I always look?

He smirks at her. I turn back around and see Agatha is blushing.

I slam my fist on the table and yell, “He’s plotting!”

They both jump then look very unhappy with me.

Agatha gets up and says, “I’m going for a run,” and leaves.

Penny sighs and says, “Simon, if you want to stay friends with Agatha you can’t be so jealous all the time.”

“I’m not jealous,” I growl, and glance back at Baz to see if he’s still looking. He’s not.

Penny raises an eyebrow. Can everyone but me do that?

I shove a scone in my mouth to try to calm down.

FUCK ME.

It burns. I spit it out on the plate and Penny looks a little disgusted and looks away.

I break the scones into smaller pieces and pick one up to blow on.

“Penny. I have proof he’s doing something,” I say.

“And what is he doing?” she asks.

“He’s wiping the schools memories. Whole days,” I tell her.

“Baz doesn’t have the magic to do that.”

“He does. And I have it right here,” I say and pat my bag.

She reaches for the bag but I pull it away.

“Not here,” I say, and glance back at Baz. He’s still at his table.

The scone pieces have cooled and I shovel it all in my mouth and eat it in about thirty seconds.

* * *

Once we’ve gone into an empty classroom I show her the gem.

“What is it?” she asks in awe of it.

“I don’t know. We found it yesterday hidden in Baz’s wardrobe.”

“So I was there too, and I have forgotten?” she asks, trying to wrap her mind around everything.

“Yes.”

“What did I say when I saw it?”

“You said not to break it, and suggested we ask Baz what it is.”

“Did we?”

“Did we what?”

“Ask Baz.”

“No…Shouldn’t we be tearing apart the library to look for information on magic gems?” I ask.

“That could take days and we won’t make any progress if we forget the next day.

“If this is going to culminate in a fight against Baz, I think we should just confront him and get it done with,” she says.  
  
I nod. It makes sense. I knew I’d have to actually fight Baz for real one day. I just thought it wouldn’t be for a long time.

“Do you know where he is or where he’s going to be?” she asks.

“All I know is he goes to the room some time while we’re at lunch then goes to the game.”

“The room wouldn’t be ideal since you can’t fight there. And there’s too many people at the game. I think our best bet it to look for him.”

“Where?”

“You know him best,” she reminds me.

* * *

Unfortunately, all those years of stalking Baz hasn’t paid off. He wasn’t anywhere I thought he’d be.

We checked the catacombs, the music room, and the pitch. There was no sign of him. I know he wasn’t at the library and he doesn’t come back to our room until later. Or maybe he did go to the room earlier because he knows I’m on to him now and has changed his routine?

We didn’t give up though. We searched everywhere. Even places we don’t think he’ll be like empty classrooms, the mages office, and the kitchens.

We did find Dev in Neil studying in the courtyard. But when we asked where Baz was, Dev just laughed and said, “Maybe he’s with Agatha.”

For a moment I believed him, and I almost punched him. But then Penny yanked on my arm and pointed. And sure enough, on the far end of the field, we could see Agatha on her run. I thought she just said that to get away. I didn’t think she was actually going for a run.

After that I realize we have run out of time because my stomach growls and I know that means it’s lunch time.

* * *

When we get near the doors of the dining hall Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

Oh no. How do I do this? I definitely don’t want to make her cry again.

“Hey, Philippa,” I say, trying to sound casual. 

“Do you want to go to the game tonight?” she asks me, making me think of one of the Chipettes from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

“Umm. I- uhh,” I bluster.

She watches me patiently.

I take a deep breath.

“... I am going to the game. But I have plans with Penny... So, I can’t sit with you tonight,” I say. I think that was good. I made it clear I’m going to go out with her but didn’t say anything mean.

She puts her hand on my arm and says, “I understand. So, how about next Saturday?”

“Oh. Umm. Sure,” I say.

She beams at me and says, “Okay! I’ll talk to you next week then.” Then she runs off.

Why? Why did I have to say that? It was going so well this time.

Penny glares at me.

After we fix our plates and sit down, penny looks at me and sighs.

“Let me guess. My love life is a mess?” I ask, mouth full of roast beef.

“Yes. Have we had this conversation before?” she asks.

“Yep.”

“And you still haven’t learned to deal with Philippa?”

“If you knew how much better I did than last time, you’d be proud of me,” I say.

“What did you do last time?”

“Don’t we have more pressing matters? We still haven’t found Baz and the game is going to start soon.”

“We’ll just go to the game and corner him after.”

“I uh. Can’t go to the game,” I say.

“Why?”

“Well. Every time I do, Baz kicks me in the face with the ball, then I wake up and it’s Saturday again.”

“Have you tried standing somewhere else?”

“Yes. He does it on purpose. So, I think we need another plan,” I tell her.

“Just wear a helmet,” she says, like it’s obvious.

And it is obvious. Why didn’t I think of that?

Before we know it the dining hall is empty because the game is starting.

Penny has to go to her room to put her books away and is going to find a helmet for me. I want to put on my sweatshirt, so I go to my room. We agree to meet at outside of Mummers House.

* * *

I get to my room and it looks like there was a hurricane.

All my stuff is everywhere and ruined. My laptop is in pieces scattered across the room. My clothes are half burnt in a pile. My books are all torn up. My mattress is flipped on the floor. All my drawers are upside down on the floor.

Even my desk is upside down.

Shit. I left Baz’s drawer on the floor this morning. He knows I have the glowy gem thing.

I  dig through the clothes and find the sweatshirt. It’s only a little singed around the collar. It’s wearable. So I put it on.

I have my head stuck in it when I hear the door swing open, and I fall over.

I hear a gasp, and I realize it’s just Penny.

“What happened?” she asks.

I wiggle until I get my head through the sweatshirt and say, “I think Baz was looking for the gem.”

She helps me up and looks around then asks, “Why is his stuff messed up too then? His trophies are broken and there’s a drawer dumped out.”

“That was from this morning,” I tell her.

“So. You didn’t try to hide the fact that you found this at all?”

Putting the drawer back might have been a good idea, now that she mentioned it.

She hands me cricket helmet.

“Watford has a cricket team?” I ask, putting it on.

“Not in decades. I found it in one of the sports storage closets.”

* * *

When we get there people are already gathering. We still have to push our way through the crowd a bit. But when we get to the front. Right in the splash zone.

When the players get on the pitch I see Baz scan the crowd. He looks furious. When his eyes sweep over me I realize he’s looking for me, and he doesn’t recognize me with the helmet on.

He plays like shit just like yesterday. The other players are easily taking the ball from him

People begin yelling because the rival team scored a goal.

Baz is fuming. He glares at the crowd as he runs back to his starting position.

I wonder if he’s playing so badly because I have his gem.

He lifts his shirt to wipe sweat off his face while looking in my general direction. For some reason makes my heart flutter. It’s a strange feeling.

I’m suddenly really concerned that maybe he cursed me and my heart is going to explode because it is beating harder than usual.

The game starts back up. The ball works its way towards the enemy goal, and someone passes the ball to Baz. Baz tries to score a goal but he completely misses.

People are booing at him. I don’t think anyone has booed at him before. Aside from yesterday and the day before, and well, the day before that too. I hope this ends soon. I don’t know how much longer I can keep all the days straight in my head.

When the  ball keeps bouncing from one side of the pitch to the other like ping pong I notice that this time Philippa isn’t yelling for me which is a relief. But yesterday proves she isn’t responsible for the knockouts.

Soon everyone is yelling because the enemy team scored another goal on us.

The players go back to their positions and the game starts again. They start kicking the ball and it quickly makes its way to the side where I am standing. Baz is trying to steal the ball away from the other player again.

This time be succeeds and dribbles the ball toward me.

_Oh no._

Baz looks at me.

Then he continues past me.

I’m okay. I made it! _Woo!_

The fact that he didn’t kick it in my face the one time he doesn’t know it was me, I think proves that it was on purpose.

The game goes on pretty uneventfully from there. We lost 4 to 0.

Once everything dies out, and the crowd dissipates, we try to catch Baz before he goes in the locker room.

Coach Mac gets in front of us and says, “Players only,” when we get too close.

Baz sees me and sneers. He must recognize me up close.

“I know you are the chosen one, but I didn’t think you were special enough to wear a helmet. Makes sense though,” Baz says.

He’s mocking but his tone isn’t light at all. It’s bitter. He sounds ready to kill.

But he walks away into the locker room.

We wait outside for him to come out. We wait a long time. After about an hour, we figure out he must have left through a different exit.

“Should we go to your room?” Penny asks.

“No. I’ll go alone. In the room he can’t hurt me, but he can hurt you and I wouldn’t be able to defend you.”

  
“Are you sure? I think I can take Baz.”

“I’m sure… If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

She takes my hand and gives it a squeeze.

“Good luck.”

* * *

I get to the room and open the door. Baz is leaning against his desk, waiting for me.

“Where is it?” he demands.

“I have it. You’re going to tell me what you’re doing and why or I’ll destroy it,” I growl.

“It is mine, and it’s none of your business,” he snarls, and walks towards me. 

I fish the gem out of my bag and hold it up, prepared to smash it on the ground. He stops.

“Snow…” he warns.

I know Penny said not to break it, but it’s the only leverage I have over him.

“Give it to me _now_ ,” he demands.

“Why are you repeating the day?” I shout.

“What?” he asks.

“You know what!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he insists.

“You admitted to it this morning!”

He lifts an eyebrow and we stand there like that for a moment.

He lunges to take it out of my hand, and I throw it on the ground. It shatters.  The color leaves the pieces and now it just looks like broken glass. Nothing else happens. No explosion or anything like that.

Baz looks at me and has a horrifying expression on his face. It’s anger and anguish.

“That was my mother's remembrance paragon!” he roars as he tackles me then puts his hands on my neck, squeezing hard, choking me.

Immediately, the window opens and Baz gets sucked out of the room. It’s over in seconds.

“Baz?” I call out.

The room is eerily silent.

I get up and run my fingers through my hair.

He must be at the gates.

I bolt out of the room and start running down the stairs. I’m leaping down three steps at a time.

I feel my foot miss a step, and then I’m falling.

There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Baz.


	5. DAY FIVE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The song is comforting after last night. The silence after Baz got sucked out of the room was deafening.

**DAY FIVE**

 

I lurch awake to my customary 70’s pop song.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

Thank Morgona, it’s Saturday again. He’s still here.

The song is comforting after last night. The silence after Baz got sucked out of the room was deafening. I know he’s my enemy and all, but I want him to be where I can see him. If he weren’t around, I’d go mental wondering what he was up to.

Propped up on my elbows, I see Baz fiddling with his hair in the mirror and I just stare at him.

When he turns around from the mirror he says, “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

I lay back down and give him a thumbs up. I’m not sure what I did last night, but I have the feeling it was awful given Baz’s reaction. I know he’s evil and the remembrance paragon thing is probably evil, but I can’t forget the look on his face when I smashed it. I feel guilty.

I just listen to the music, looking at the ceiling, until I hear the door slam shut.

I don’t bother to turn off the music. I don’t want to accidentally break anything else of Baz’s.

I brush my teeth and get dressed. I don’t even bother with the uniform. I just put on sweatpants and the lacrosse sweatshirt. I don’t grab any of my stuff as I head out the door.

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table. Thank Morgana, they save me scones every time.  

I sit down with them. I mumble a hello, unsure of what to even tell them this time.  
  
“You’re late,” Penny tells me.

“I know…” I say.

I break the scones into pieces to let it cool.

“Is something wrong?” Penny asks me, eyeing me suspiciously.

“It’s complicated,” I say.

Penny looks between me and Agatha and says nothing. She must think it has something to do with her and won’t pry with Agatha sitting right there.

We sit in silence for what feels like a long time. I can’t stop replaying last night's events in my head.

“Umm. What’s a remembrance paragon?” I ask her, finally realizing she probably knows.

“A what?” Penny asks.  
  
“It’s a gemstone with an imprint of a mages magic,” Agatha explains. “They’re really rare. Only old families have them because the gem is extremely expensive and you have to be a really powerful mage to turn it into one.”

“What does it do?” I ask.

“Nothing. It’s sorta like a photo. It’s just a memory. It’s a way you can feel the magic of a loved one after they’re gone,” she says.

“Oh,” I say, feeling sick.

I smashed Baz’s memory of his mother.

“Why are you asking?” Penny asked.

By now I know better than to mention Baz during breakfast with Agatha around.

I think about how to do things this time around. I’m so tired of trying and explaining. Maybe I just need to make it through the day without getting knocked out and it’ll work.

After another long silence, Penny suggests we go to the library to study. “We have an essay to write and an exam to study for,” she reminds me.

I don’t want to write that essay again, and I know what Agatha is going to say next so I say, “actually, I was going to go for a run. Do either of you wanna join me?”

Agatha looks a little annoyed but says, “Yeah, I’ll go with you.”

* * *

After we part with Penny, Agatha and I start jogging toward the pitch.

“What’s with you today?” she asks.

“I’ve had a rough few days,” I say, trying to be vague.

“You seemed fine yesterday,” she says.  
  
I almost laugh. I can’t even remember yesterday, it seems like so long ago.

When we get to the pitch, she says, “Can we run through the wood? I love going there, but I know it’s not safe to go alone.”

“Yeah, sure” I perk up a little, feeling useful for once.

There’s this nice trail that’s not too deep that we go on. It’s deep enough that we can’t see the pitch but not so deep that we’re likely to stumble on any dryads.

It’s Spring so the Wavering Woods is nice and green. The scent of cedar and wild flowers is really relaxing.

This is really nice, running with Aggy. I don’t know why I never did this more often.

As we round a sharp bend, Agatha runs into someone getting knocked over. 

_It’s Baz._

Of course it’s fucking Baz.

Baz didn’t even stagger, and I’m torn for a second between pushing him over and helping Agatha up.

And in that second Baz takes those options away from me by holding out a hand for her and helping her up.

A sharp pang of jealousy rips through me.

“I’m so sorry,” Agatha says turning pink. “I wasn’t paying enough attention.”

He holds her hand longer than necessary and says, “It’s fine.”

Then eyes me and says, “You two alone in the woods? Back together?”

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of saying no, but I also can’t lie, even if Agatha wasn’t standing right there. So I change the subject entirely.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding?” I ask.

He raises that perfect eyebrow and asks, “Were you looking for me?”

“Not today,” I say. Well. Maybe it technically was today. But not _this_ today.

I expect him to sneer or at least look confused but he just looks stoic.

“We’re not back together,” Agatha says. “Just friends.”

Baz grins at that. He’s pretty much leering at us.

It’s really getting under my skin. I want to point out that he’s obviously out here feeding because he’s obviously a vampire. I want to shout at him that my relationship with Agatha is none of his business and to stay away from her. I want to get my hands on him. I want to break his fucking nose again.

But, then the guilt of last night rushes back. I know it sorta never happened, but I feel like I’ve wronged him, and even though it makes no sense, I want to make it right.

So I say, “Good luck with the game tonight.”

Now he looks confused.

“Good luck with your love life,” he says sarcastically, and stalks off.

Agatha waves goodbye to him. He must not have noticed because he doesn’t wave back.

Agatha looks at me, and I shrug, then we go back to jogging.

After we get well out of earshot of Baz, Agatha says, “That was surprisingly civil.”

I shrug again.

“Are you and Baz getting along for once?” she asks.

“No. He’s just as nasty as ever,” I say.

“Then why’d you wish him luck?” she asks.

“I didn’t want to start anything with him today.”

“That’s really mature of you,” she says and smiles happily.

I smile back. A real smile. It seemed like it was impossible to make her happy before, but now it doesn’t seem so hard. Just don’t engage with Baz.

* * *

When we get tired jogging we just walk around campus until lunch time.

As we get near the doors of the dining hall Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

“Hi, Philippa,” Agatha and I say almost in unison.

Philippa looks between us and frowns.

“I’ll see you later,” she says and is gone in a blink.

That was weird. I think maybe she thought I’m dating Agatha again.

After we fix our plates, we see Penny already at a table and sit with her.

She studies us for a long time before asking us how the run went.

We just say it was nice and neither of us mention Baz.

After we eat, Agatha gets up and says she’s going to her room to change before the game. Once she’s gone Penny eyes go from happy to mad and she quietly but angrily says, “Are you two going out again? This is a huge mistake. You’re not right for each other.”  
  
“Why do you care so much?” I ask, getting a bit angry myself. “Why would it be such a huge mistake to go out with the girl I love?”

“I care because I care about you. And you don’t love her. You love the idea of her. You two are terrible for each other,” she says.

I’m so sick of hearing about my catastrophic love life. I’m sick of being told Agatha is bad for me.  
  
The dining hall is starting to smell like smoke. I know my magic is leaking all over the place, so I get up to leave before I set something on fire.  
  
“I’m sorry, Simon,” Penny says, her voice softening a bit.  “Where are you going?”  

“To my room,” I say walking away.

“What about the game?” she calls out.

“Screw the game,” I growl.

* * *

When I get to the room I check for damage.

I make sure my computer still works, and look in my dresser and find all my clothes still in tact.

I grab a pair of pajama pants and go into the bathroom to take a shower.

I just have to make it through tonight without a head injury, then tomorrow will finally be Sunday.

When the shower gets hot enough I almost step in but then I picture myself slipping and hitting my head and can already hear “ _Take a chance, take a-take a chance-chance,_ ” playing over and over in my head. The mental warning is a bit ironic.Or maybe it’s goating me.

I decide that I’ve taken thousands of showers before without much incident, so I can again.

So I get in and wash up carefully, always using one hand to hold onto the railing affixed to the wall. With one free hand, the shower takes twice as long as usual. But it does go successfully. So I get out, dry myself, put my pajama bottoms, and go back into the room.

I consider trying to go to sleep right now, but it’s still light out.

I go to the window to look at the pitch, and see the game going on.

It’s too far away to see the plays, so I turn my attention to Baz’s iPod on the shelf next to the window. I’m very very careful with the chord.

I just put his songs on shuffle and turn the volume down.

A nice song from a band I’ve never heard of come on. It’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, by Neutral Milk Hotel.

I set the iPod down and go back to my bed and lay down.

Some familiar songs play, like Kashmir and one I don’t know the name of by Green Day. But also a lot of songs I’ve never heard before come on. I think I like Baz’s taste in music.

I quickly get up and run over to it to press skip when Take A Chance On Me comes on.

But then Arctic Monkeys comes on so I go back and lay down again.

As the songs keep coming, I realize time is passing faster than I thought it would and before I know it, it’s already dark out.

I decide to get up and turn it off so it won’t be playing when Baz get back.

And as if on queue, as I walk toward my bed, the door opens and Baz comes in.

He sneers at me.

Normally we don’t talk. Ever. But for one he’s staring at me like he’s waiting for me to say something. And for two, I’m curious if me breaking his stuff is actually affecting him so badly that it’s what’s causing him to play so badly.

So, I say, “Hi, Baz. How was the game?”

“Not good,” he says, while angrily staring me down. “Where were you?”

“I was here.”

“Why?” he demands.

“I felt like having a night in,” I say.

“You wished me luck though,” he says.

“What?”

“Why would you wish me luck then not even show up to support the team?” he says through gritted teeth.

“I needed some time to myself.” It’s not a total lie, and I can’t tell him it’s to avoid reliving Saturday for the umpteenth time. 

“I hope your alone time was worth it, because it cost us the game,” he snaps.

“How?” I can’t even.

He just barges past me to grab pajamas and goes into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

I get into bed.

How could it possibly be my fault they lost? I didn’t even break anything this time.

Why would me being there even change the outcome? I’m not on the team.

When he comes out I ask, “How’d you even notice I wasn’t there?”

Baz just sneers and gets into bed too.

Right as I’m about to complain he didn’t turn the lights out I hear him say, “nox,” and the lights go out.

What the fuck? Was that a Harry Potter spell? That works? Baz watches Harry Potter?

I ponder these things as I drift to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are confused by anything, let me know. I'm not an experienced writer. There are reasons for everything. Some might be part of the mystery and some might just not be clear enough through my writing. So just let me know. 
> 
> Also. I get a little flack for “I almost fall out of bed as I spasm awake” sounding weird. But it happens every day/chapter and I try to describe it slightly different every day/chapter. If you have an alternative, I’d love to hear it.  
> I’ve also used, “I wake up with a jolt to deafening music,” “I wake up in a panic to loud music,” “I jerk awake to familiar music,” “I lurch awake to my customary 70’s pop song.”
> 
> Also. When I asked my mom how to reword “I almost fall out of bed as I spasm awake,” she said, “How about, ‘I wake up with a jerk.’” And I said, “Mom. He lives with Baz. Every day he wakes up with a jerk.”


	6. DAY SIX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What the fuck?!” I yell. “Of course it’s Abba! It’s always fucking Abba!”

**DAY SIX**

 

I surge completely awake to fucking Abba.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

“What the fuck?!” I yell. “Of course it’s Abba! It’s always fucking Abba!”

Baz ignores me as he fiddles with his hair in the mirror.

“What day is it?” I demand.

He raises that perfect fucking eyebrow.

“The Chosen One is so oblivious he doesn’t even know what day it is,” he states.

“Tell me,” I growl.

“It’s Monday you gormless idiot. And you’re about to be late for class. Not that it matters for you. Class has never helped you and that’s not going to change today.”

I jump out of bed and yell, “No! It’s not. It’s Saturday, isn’t it? _Isn’t it?_ ”

“Why even ask if you know,” he drawls.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” I scream.

I pick up my pillow and start beating my bed with it.

“Jesus fucking Christ! I’m so fucking sick of this shit day!” I yell.

“Do you kiss The Mage with that mouth?” Baz asks.

“What? No,” I snarl back.

“Who _do_ you kiss with that mouth?” he quips.

What?

That’s a weird question. Is he trying to rub it in my face that I’m single?

“Why do you care who I kiss?” I ask.  
  
“I don’t,” he says as he slams the door shut behind him.

I sit on the bed, put the pillow in my face and scream.

After a few minutes of that I calm down, so I stroll out the door.

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table. They’re staring at me gobsmacked as I walk up.  

“Hello,” I say to them as I sit down and start breaking apart my scones.

“Simon!” Penny hisses looking worried as hell.

“Yes?” I ask.

“You’re not wearing a shirt,” she says with a frantic but hushed voice.

“I’m not wearing shoes either,” I inform them.

I look at Agatha and she looks mortified. She’s looking all over the dining hall. I don’t know if she’s just trying to avoid looking at me, looking for an excuse to leave or assessing the damage to her reputation by seeing who’s here.

Her eyes stop somewhere behind me and I turn to look.

Of course it’s Baz.

But instead of smirking at her, he’s looking at me with contempt. Like I just spit in his face or something.

I shrug to myself and turn back around.

“Why aren’t you dressed?” Agatha asks, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Okay. This is going to sound crazy. But everyone thinks it’s Saturday over and over again and forgets the previous day, no matter what. At first I thought it was Baz, but now I don’t know what to think. But it doesn’t matter what I do because it’ll just restart tomorrow. Well. Today. There is no tomorrow. But anyways. It doesn’t matter what I do, so why bother? No one is going to remember this.”

“The day is repeating?” Penny asks sternly.

“Yep,” I say.  
  
“I’m going for a run… Good luck with… Whatever this is,” Agatha says.  
  
I smile and wave her goodbye.

We broke up partly because she wanted a normal life. She probably doesn’t want to get involved in another one of our “adventures.” I don’t blame her. I want a normal life too.

  
“Simon. How long has this been happening?” Penny asks.

“Uhh. Well. There was the original day. Then the next day I figured out it was still Saturday. Then there was the time when we opened the notebook, the time with the remembrance paragon, then yesterday. So, I guess that makes today the sixth Saturday.” I say, and sip on the tea Agatha left behind.

I expect Penny to be looking at me like she has no clue what’s going on. But she’s looking at me like I have no clue what’s going on.

“Okay. Let’s get you back to your room,” she says, getting up and grabbing me by the arm.

“But scones,” I say.

She tries to drag me, but I stop and grab my plate, a butter knife, a whole butter dish and everything else within arms reach from other people’s plates, before I let her continue to drag me off.

We’re obviously not supposed to bring food back to our rooms, let alone dishes, but it’s not like I can get in trouble if no one remembers.

* * *

When we get to my room she immediately asks “When you told me before what was happening, on previous Saturdays, how did you word it?”

I sit on the bed and set the dishes in front of me.

“Umm. I was convinced Baz was behind it. I don’t really think so anymore. But before I think I said something like, ‘Baz is wiping everyone's memory.’” I tell her.

I use the knife to cut a slab of butter and eat it and she rolls her eyes.

“It’s just butter. Calm down,” I say.

“It’s not the butter. Has the weather changed over the last five Saturdays?”

“No.”

“Does anything that breaks stay broken?”

“No. How did you know stuff breaks?”

“You always break stuff. Have you checked your laptop? Does it still say Saturday?”

“Yes.”

She looks at me expectantly.

“What?” I ask.

“Do you remember what we were working on just last night?”

Trying to remember the last thing we talked about, I say “...My love life?”

She groans and says, “No. My project.”

“Your project?” I say, and pause to think. “You mean when we were up all night trying to figure out how you could stop time for Micah?”

She nods slowly.

“What does that have to do with memory wipes?” I ask, as I cut myself another slab of butter.

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

What?

Wait.

Oh.  
  
_Oh._

“Time itself is looping, not just memories, isn’t it?” I ask.

“Yep,” she sighs and sits on Baz’s bed.

“How’d that happen though? We were just brainstorming. We didn’t actually cast any spells.”

“Si, sometimes you say stuff with magic without meaning to. Sometimes you do it with things that aren’t even spells. You probably accidentally said something with magic last night.”

“How do we fix it?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Even if I knew what you said, I’m not sure how to undo it. Do you have any idea what you might have said?”

“Not a clue,” I say.

“Okay. Let’s try to recreate what we did last night,” she says as she raises her ring and casts, “ **_see what I mean!_ **”

She writes in the air with her finger tips. It’s all backwards for me since we’re facing each other, but I see columns that say “movies,” “songs,” and “phrases.”

I get up and go to Baz’s bed so I can see what she writes.

Under movies she has Groundhogs Day,  Edge of Tomorrow, Bandersnatch (whatever that is), Mystery Spot (even though that’s technically an episode of Supernatural and not a movie), and Happy Death Day.

Under songs she has Pink Floyd “ _Time_ ,” Cyndi Lauper “ _If you're lost you can look and you will find me, Time after time,_ ” Sam Cooke “ _Here, another Saturday night,_ ” Rolling Stones “ _Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time, I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time,_ ” Iron Maiden “ _If you had the time to lose, An open mind and time to choose.”  
_

“I only know like three of those songs, and I don’t think I sang any of them,” I say.

“I’m just covering all bases,” she says, then she starts on the phrases.

She writes, “time of your life,” “any day now,” then “all the time in the world.”

“ **_All the time in the world_ **. That could be it,” I say.

She pauses and stops writing.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” I say getting excited.

Penny doesn’t say anything.

“Pen?”

She doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t move. Her hand is still in the air like she’s about to write.

I wave my hands in front of her face and she doesn’t even blink.

“PENNY!” I shout.

She still doesn’t move.

Oh, shit.

No, no, no, no, no!

Well, isn’t this fucking brilliant? And here I thought it couldn’t get worse. Time has gone from a loop to a stand still.

I don’t know what to do so I just sit there.

After a minute, I realize she’s blinking. But it’s taking a really long time. I start counting to see how long it takes but I give up after about 80 seconds.

I go over to Baz’s iPod and accidentally knock over one of his trophies.

But instead of falling to the floor and breaking, it just floats in the air.

“Wicked,” I say out loud, and set it back on the shelf.

His iPod takes forever to turn on but I finally press play, and it plays the song Season 2 Episode 3 by Glass Animals. I know this song. It’s usually relaxes me. But at this speed it’s eery and unsettling. I listen for about five minutes before I decide that’s really creepy and turn it off.

I lean over Baz’s desk trying to think.

I could try to undo this, but there’s no telling how much worse I can make it. I can’t do anything right. I’ve had four days to figure this out, and it just gets worse each time.

I kick a leg on Baz’s chair in frustration.

To my surprise the leg breaks right off.

Do I have super strength now?

I test the other leg by giving it a kick, and it breaks off too.

I walk back and sit on the bed to think more. I guess if the rest of the world is going slow then it’s like I’m going really fast. And I probably just kicked that chair at 100 kilometers an hour or something.

I look back at the chair and I can kind of see it has started to fall.

I look back at Penny and she’s looking at the speakers. She must have heard the song play for a moment.

I go to my desk and get out a pen and paper. I write, “I accidently slowed time and idk how to fix it. It’ll take hours for me to wait for you to read this, so I’m going to go find something to do for a while, then I’ll come back. I don’t want to pressure you but please work as fast as you can.P.S. Sorry if the chair startled you.”

I put the note in her hand, put on a shirt and some shoes and head out.

* * *

I get outside and I can’t think of anything else to do, so I go for a run.

I take that nice trail in the Wavering Wood.Just like yesterday the Wavering Woods is nice and green and the scent of cedar and wild flowers is really relaxing. But that’s undone because the sounds are all weird and slow.

My footfalls are echos. I think I’m outrunning the speed of sound. And the trees make this horrible creaking as the wind blows.

When I round the sharp bend, I remember that Baz was here before. Not this exact time and place, but he must be somewhere out here now. Probably feeding.

I start searching the woods for him. I’m already certain he’s a vampire, but verification would be nice. And I have all the time in the world.

After about an hour for me, and probably like thirty seconds for the rest of the world, I find him. I find him holding a rabbit with his fangs out.

“I fucking knew it!” I yell.

But without a reaction from him, I feel like an idiot, standing there watching this.

I get a closer look at his fangs. I wonder how they work. Like, where do they go when he’s not using them? Because he definitely doesn’t have them out when I’m around.

It’s so weird that a part of his body grows when he needs it.

“Poor bunny,” I say, looking at it. It doesn’t even look scared. Baz must have spelled it calm or something.

I take the rabbit from him and take it about a kilometer away before setting it down carefully.

I go all the way back up to my room and find Penny looking at the note I left. The chair has also finished falling over.

I lean past Penny and open Baz’s nightstand drawer and grab a bag of salt and vinegar crisps.

Now I have to walk back to Baz, and this process as taken almost an hour but it’s so worth it.

But when I get there I realize I’m too late to switch the bunny for the bag without him noticing. He already has a surprised look on his face. But I put the bag in his hands anyways.

It’s a hilarious sight, him looking at the bag so surprised. I just wish I could have been fast enough to get him to bite into the bag. I really wish I could stay and see the look on his face when he sees the crisps, but that would take ages.

Ugh. Everything is going to take ages. And I can’t watch Netflix or listen to music.

I could pull more pranks. But I don’t know what I’d do. Everything I can think of seems too mean. Baz is the only exception to that.

I guess that leaves me with one other option… I’m going to have to read.

I groan to myself and make the trek back to my room. _Again._

When I get there I can see Penny looks in deep thought and she has written a few more things.

None that seem like they’d fix this, and even if they did, I wouldn’t trust myself to cast it.

I go to Baz’s wardrobe and pull out the novels I saw in there before.

There’s _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ . I let out a little snort of laughter because the bloke on the cover reminds me of Baz slightly.

I set it down in the air next to me, just letting it float.

I take out another and it’s _Pride and Prejudice_. I know Penny likes this one too, but it sounds really boring, so I put it with the other.

 _Atlas Shrugged_ is huge. This must be like a million pages. I put it with the others.

 _Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe_ ? Greek lit is so boring. I think reading The Iliad was harder than any of the times I’ve had to fight The Humdrum. I push it into the other’s causing the pile to drift a little.

“ _The Captive Prince_ ?” I say out loud to myself.

I’ve never heard of it, but it’s the most interesting sounding one so far.

I take it and leave. All the walking has made me a thirsty boy.

* * *

When I get to the dining hall, it’s mostly empty because lunch hasn’t started. But it’s the weekend and some people are hanging out.

I see Trixie holding a cup of tea. I take it from her. Not to be a dick. But I just walked like ten kilometers and it’s the nearest drink. 

I put it up to my mouth and tip the cup, but then nothing happens. The liquid is staying still.

Well, fuck.

I stick my fingers in it and try to scoop the tea into my mouth. It kinda works but I’m mostly just making a mess in the air.

I try to slurp it up but I end up choking on it and cough it up.

And now I have two problems. I can’t drink, and all this liquid is going to eventually drop on Trixie. I don’t know how to mop something in mid air.

I look around and see Marcus sitting a couple tables over and get an idea.

I grab his bag and bring it to the tea, and I scoop all the tea into the bag. Then I put the bag back where I got it.

I sit at an empty table and tap my fingers, trying to think of how to drink something. I look around trying to get ideas.

If I had a straw, that might work. But there are none. And I can’t think of a way to make one.

After a while, I get so thirsty that I have no choice but to just keep trying with the scooping thing with people’s drinks. Each time it makes a mess. Each time I use Marcus’s bag to clean it up.

I hope this isn’t how Baz felt when I took the rabbit.

Just as I’m cleaning up the eighth unsatisfying drink, I get an idea.

I go to where you can buy drinks that are kept in a fridge. I go behind the counter and grab a can of coke. Then I take a pen out of my pocket and puncture it in the middle.

I suck the soda out of it and my eyes flutter. Sweet glorious liquid.

I wonder if it’s this satisfying for Baz when he does this to rabbits and rats.

The can crushes inward into itself as I suck.

I go through about four cans before I feel like I’ve had enough.

Now that that’s over, I need to find a place to read. If I stay in one spot too long people will start seeing a blurry me and it’ll make a scene.

As I head toward the exit I see Trixie staring wide eyed at her empty hands.

* * *

I find a spot on the west wall of Mummers House where there are no people. I sit against the wall and start reading.

Almost immediately my jaw drops and I start reading out loud.

“‘ _The food was rustic, but the slaves were impeccable: faultlessly obedient and trained to efface and anticipate, nothing like the spoiled pets at the court of Vere._ ’”

What the hell have you been reading, Baz?

I turn the book over to read the back. It is apparently about a prince who is captured and sent to serve another prince of an enemy nation… _As a pleasure slave?!_

I don’t know what surprises me more. The fact that Baz has a book about sex slaves, or the fact that Baz has a book about _gay_ sex slaves.

Or the fact that this was the most worn out book in his wardrobe.

It must sound worse than it is. Baz wouldn’t have erotica.

So I keep reading.

I read for about twenty minutes and it turns out to be worse than it sounds. I didn’t know that was possible. This book is more smutty than anything I’ve ever read in my life.

But I got to admit. The plot is interesting. And I’m finding it surprisingly entertaining… Even though the enemy prince reminds me of Baz.

I keep reading. This book is an emotional rollercoaster.

I’m constantly amazed how the captive prince, Damen, stays strong no matter what the evil enemy prince, Laurent, does to him.

I’m halfway though when I decide to take a break to check on Penny. I don’t think I’ve read something this long without a break before. It must have been like four hours at least.

When I get there, she’s not sitting on Baz’s bed anymore and all the stuff she had witten is gone.

She’s standing in the middle of the room facing away from the door.

In the air she has started writing something. But it just says “Sim,” so far.

I watch for a while and as she starts on the “o” my stomach growls and I sigh. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten.

I check the clock and it’s right before lunch is supposed to be served so maybe there’ll be some food ready now.

* * *

I go straight through the dining hall and into the kitchen.

My heart skips a beat when I see the trays of fresh baked scones.

I go to pick one up.

“Fuck!” I yell.

It burns me so I drop it. But of course it floats instead of falling.

I wait about five minutes.

I pick it up again.

“Fuck!” I yell again.

It burns me so I drop it again and it stays floating.

I try blowing on it and it drifts away. So I pick up a spatula to hold in in place while I blow on it more.

After about ten minutes of this I let go of the spatula and pick it up.

“Fuck!” I yell again.

It burns me so I drop it again and it stays floating.

I groan then break it into smaller pieces to cool even though it’s burning the hell out of my hand.

I look at my fingers when I’m done and they have turned a reddish color and hurt really bad.

My stomach growls loudly at the sight of all the inedible scones.

I groan and wait another ten minutes then give it a test touch. It’s still burning hot.

My stomach growls again. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hungry. My stomach feels like how those Coke cans looked when I was done with them, all caved in and empty.

_I need to eat.  
_

I put one of the pieces in my mouth. It’s hotter than the ones I’ve been getting for breakfast every morning. It hurts so bad I can’t help but spit it out as my eyes water.

“FUCK!” I scream.

I kick the oven and it dents inward as if it were made out of thin aluminium. It’s so unsatisfying I yell and do it again and again until it’s crumpled and breaking apart.

Then I start crying. Not manly crying either. I’m sobbing like a child.

I go and sit on the floor in the corner, hug my knees and bawl my eyes out.

This is so much worse than with the drinks. This is so much worse than everything. My mouth is burnt, my hand is burnt, I’m starving even though there are dozens of fresh scones in front of me, and I have no idea how long I’m going to be stuck like this.

Even if time wasn’t slowed, it’s still looped and everyday I have to be reminded that Agatha doesn’t love me. Yeah, yesterday went okay, but she still clearly would prefer Baz.

As much as I hate him, I should have never taken that rabbit from Baz. Being this hungry is hell.

…

THE CRISPS!

* * *

As I sprint back to my room I pass Penny.

It’s not like I can stop to say hello, so I keep going.

I run up the stairs, and I’m panting by the time I open the door.

I see Baz with his wand pointed at the words Penny left behind.

Now it says, “on, meet met at the game! AND BE PATIENT!”

Lucky Penny left before Baz got here.

And luckily I got here before Baz erased it all.

I rush past him, get the crisps from his nightstand, rip the bag open and start shoving them in my mouth as fast as I can.

It’s so good.

I eat all four of the bags he has.

By the time I’m done I realize he’s looking at me. His mouth is open in surprise and I kinda wanna put something in it.

But I think I’ve meddled with what Baz has in his mouth too much for the day already.

Now that lunch has started, that means everyone will be at the dining hall then go to the game. So the library will be empty and I won’t have to sit on the ground anymore.

* * *

When I get there, it is empty as expected.

I sit in a chair at a table and get my book out.

I’m finding this book way more entertaining than I should… It’s making me feel things that I never thought I would feel. I never thought about any of this kind of stuff too hard before.

Does this mean I’m gay?

My feelings for Agatha are definitely real, so I don’t think so.

But I’d be lying if I said this book dosen’t make me feel… Excited. At times.

Since this is Baz’s book, does that mean he’s gay?

Maybe this book has some sort of literary importance that’s going over my head and that’s the only reason he has it.

Today has been so long. I'm knackered. 

I sigh and rest my head over my folded arms on the table. I close my eyes to think.

It doesn’t make any sense for Baz to be gay. He’s always going after Agatha.

It doesn’t make any sense for me to be gay. I’m always going after Agatha.

Something about Baz not being gay makes me feel weird though. Like I’m disappointed. It must be my subconscious wanting there to be less competition I guess.

I think about Baz. And I think about what Baz might have been thinking about while he read this. And my thoughts get quieter and quieter until I drift off.

* * *

I feel a pressure on my back.

I try to ignore it.

The pressure persists and gets harder.

I open my eyes.

Oh, I was sleeping. And I woke up. And I’m not in my room. And Take a Chance On Me isn’t playing.

Was that all a dream?

Is it over?

The pressure on my back hasn’t gone away so I look behind me.

Oh.

I frown.

  
The librarian is slowly poking me. I’m in the library. It’s still Saturday and time is still slow.  
  
I get up, careful not to shove the librarian too hard, and look at the clock.

“Oh shit!” I say out loud. The game already started a while ago! How long was I asleep?

I sprint across campus to the pitch.

Since the game had started a while ago so everyone has already gathered. I go through everyone, trying to be careful not to knock anyone over, looking for Penny.

The last place I look is where I find her. Right on the sideline. Right where I always get the ball kicked in my face.

Brilliant.

But the ball isn’t going in my direction, and even if it was, I could easily move out of the way or give the ball a nudge to go another direction.

I lightly put my hand on Penny’s shoulder and leave it there for a while. After about ten minutes, she seems to see me, and I take my hand off and wait.

I stand there as she raises her ring at me and I start hearing her say “ **_yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_ **-”

This could take a while. I consider leaving and coming back. But that might mess up whatever she’s casting. She said to be patient.

After a long time that sound turns into an “ **_ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_ **-”

Shit. I left the book at the library.

This is so boring. I bounce on my heels trying to entertain myself.

At least the ball is still no where near me.

Finally the sound turns into an “ **_rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr_ **-”

I think she’s been saying “your” for the last half hour.

I groan as my stomach growls.

I realize next to me, Gareth is about to eat an Aero bar.

Right as I’m taking it from him, I hear Penny’s voice speed up and says, “ **_times up!_ ** ”

I drop the bar on the ground and turn around. Everything’s going at normal speed.

“You did it! You’re brilliant!” I shout over the crowed.

I’m a little disoriented when I realize everyone is staring at me like I just apparated.

Gareth looks pretty unhappy.

Then I look at the field and see Baz meters away from me with the ball.

_Oh no._

He kicks the ball straight at my head.

I try to duck but there’s not enough time.

There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long notes for this chapter. 
> 
> 1.) So. If any of what happened when time was slowed seemed off, all I can say is suspended disbelief.  
> I know very little about physics. Before writing, I looked up the difference between having super speed and slowing down time, and as far as I can tell it’s the same thing since time is relative. So I tried to treat it with rules I know from how Quicksilver and The Flash work. (And they don’t follow the rules of physics either. According to the internet if The Flash ran while it was raining, the drops should go through him like bullets.)  
> Also, I don’t know the ratio of regular time to Simon time so it’s probably not consistent. But nothing about speedsters and time lords is consistent. 
> 
> 2.) If you’re curious, go to YouTube and look up Season 2 Episode 3 by Glass Animals and go to the settings and put it at .5 speed (click the gear on the bottom right and go to playback speeds). It is pretty creepy. It’d be even slower for Simon though. But at normal speed it’s a pretty chill song.
> 
> 3.) I recommend all of the books Baz has. Especially Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. (Although, that’s the only one I list that I don’t think Baz would actually have. The rest I’d totally believe him having.) 
> 
> 4.) If you want to read The Captive Prince, look up warnings for it first. I half paid attention to the audiobook and it’s definitely an adult book and “racy” wouldn’t begin to describe it. But the people I’ve talked to who have read it say the trilogy is really good. 
> 
> 5.) Keep in mind, the characters from The Captive Prince are Damen, the main character, and Laurent, the evil prince. The book is a little more complex than that but the names might come up again in future chapters, and that’s all you need to remember. 
> 
> 6.) Thank you to Harry and Ari for betaing and brainstorming with me.
> 
> 7.) Heads up. Next chapter is short.


	7. DAY SEVEN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The song is a helpful cue that I’m still in my predicament, but I’m getting really fed up with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short. Next one will be longer.

**DAY SEVEN**

 

I hurtle into consciousness to the sound of my designated theme song.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

The song is a helpful cue that I’m still in my predicament, but I’m getting really fed up with it.

“Baz,” I call out. “Can you please turn that off?”

“Nope,” he says, fiddling with his hair in the mirror, not even looking at me.

I sit up on my elbows and ask, “why do you even play this? You’re just going to leave in thirty seconds.”

He pauses for a moment then says, “Your sleep looked too peaceful. It would be grievous for me to not keep the savior alert.” 

“You usually say it’s not your job to wake me up.”

“It’s not, but when have I said that?” he asks, finally turning and looking at me.

“It’s complicated,” I say.

He looks at me suspiciously. I find it suspicious.

“Now that I think about it,” I say, “I’m always annoyed you didn’t wake me. But you did wake me. Not as early as I’d like, but you still did it.”

He starts heading to the door and says, “I have no idea what you’re babbling on about, but I also don’t care.” Then he slams the door shut behind him.  

Baz could have easily snuck out without waking me. He could have easily let me miss breakfast. But he woke me up

Why though?

I quickly brush my teeth, get dressed and head out the door.

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table.

I walk up to them, look at Penny and  say, “I accidentally looped time last night, it’s been Saturday for a week now. Let’s work on it in my room,” as I grab the plate of scones, knife and butter dish.

She looks shocked but gets up without hesitation.

“Oh, and have fun on your run, Aggy.”

Agatha doesn’t look shocked. She just sighs loudly as we leave.

* * *

As we walk to the room I give her the main details. That I must have accidentally said something with magic, but I don’t know what.

As soon we we walk in she sits on Baz’s bed and I sit on my bed and start eating. As I eat the butter I tell her that she can skip the movies and songs, and go right to the phrases.  
  
“It’s been a whole week for you and we still haven’t figured it out?” she asks me

“Well, to be fair, we didn’t know time was looping until yesterday.”  
  
“You didn’t notice time looping for six days?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on Sunday.”

  
She nods and starts writing.

She writes, “ _time of your life,_ ” “ _any day now,”_ then “ _all the time in the world._ ”

I point to “ _all the time in the world,”_ and say, “definitely not that one.”

She gives me a look like she’s really interested in why, but doesn’t question it and continues writing.

She writes, “ _third time's a charm_ ,” “ _it’s high time_ ,”and “ _any day now._ ”

We both sit there quietly for a while.

“OH!” Penny exclaims, then writes “ _in the right place at the right time._ ”

She explains, “I think that phrase could fix this. It doesn’t matter what you said last night. We wouldn’t need to fulfill the spell. If this puts you at the right place and time, that might mean putting you where you belong on the timeline.”

“Should you cast it or should I?”

“I think you should. Otherwise it might put me in the right time and place and not you.”

We look at each other and I nod.

I take a deep breath and say, “ **_In the right place at the right time!_ ** ”

* * *

I’m outside, surrounded by a crowed.

I look to the left and see Gareth is next to me. He drops his Aero bar.

 _Oh no._  
  
I turn around and see the pitch. Baz is meters from me with the ball.

He kicks the ball straight at my head. There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so short.  
> I’m playing a game called “lets see how many times I can hit Simon in the face.”


	8. DAY EIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m really starting to hate this song. And I have half a mind to destroy all footballs on campus.

**DAY EIGHT**

 

I wrench awake to my  blaring reminder.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_   
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

I’m really starting to hate this song. And I have half a mind to destroy all footballs on campus.

“Baz!” I yell, “I’m begging you! Please turn off the music.” 

He actually looks at me through the reflection of the mirror this time, raising that eyebrow.

“I could get used to you begging,” he says.

I’m not sure why but I feel my face turning red.

I look away from him and say, “sod off.”

He finishes with his hair then leaves, slamming the door shut.

That sounded like something Laurent would say from The Captive Prince. I guess that’d make me Damen.

I feel too hot and it’s making my skin feel all prickly. When have I felt like this before?

I cross the room to open the window and let the breeze in and carefully turn off the music.

I quickly brush my teeth, get dressed and head out the door.

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table.

I walk up to them, just like yesterday, look at Penny and  say, “I accidentally looped time last night, it’s been Saturday for a over a week now. Let’s work on it in my room,” as I grab the plate of scones, knife and butter dish.

Again she looks shocked but gets up without hesitation.

I still tell Agatha to enjoy her run and she still doesn’t look shocked and just sighs loudly as we leave.

* * *

As we walk to the room I give her the main details again. That I must have accidentally said something with magic, but I don’t know what.

As soon we we walk in she sits on Baz’s bed and I sit on my bed and start eating. I’m feeling to lazy to tell her what to skip.

After she casts “ **_see what I mean_ ** ,” and makes the categories, songs, movies and phrase, she says, “It’s been a over a week. Haven’t we at least narrowed it down?”

“We have only been working on this for a couple days, and yesterday we tried a new spell to counter this instead of figuring out what I said in the first place. It didn’t go well. I think we should stick to figuring out what I said before we try to undo it.”  
  
“Why haven’t we been working on this the whole time?” she asks. 

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on Sunday.”

  
She nods and starts writing. 

She writes everything she had before but adds, “ _at some point in time,_ ” and “ _your time has come._ ”

I move to Baz’s bed to get a better look at everything.

“Does any of this sound familiar?” she asks.

“Familiar, yes, but I don’t recall saying them. Also I know it’s not these two,” I say pointing to “ _in the right place at the right time_ ,” and “ _all the time in the world._ ”

She gives me a look like she wants to know why not those two, but instead asks, “Do you think you sang any of these songs?”   
  
“No. I only know the Pink Floyd one, Rolling Stones one, and Cyndi Lauper one. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t sing any of them.”

“Well. Lets try playing them and see if it rings any bells.”  
  
She walks over to Baz’s iPod.   
  
“Careful of the trophies!” I yell.

Mindful of the cable, she picks up the iPod and goes through it until she finds what she’s looking for. She sits back on Baz’s bed and the room is silent for about twenty seconds. Then bells start ringing. Literal bells. And chimes. It’s the Pink Floyd song Time.

“I hope it’s not a song. If I accidently cast spells singing, I’ll never be able to sing again,” I say as the bells quiet down.

“If you didn’t cast it while singing, then you cast it while talking, and by that line of reasoning, you’ll never be able to speak again,” she says.   
  
“Shit... Maybe I should stop talking. Maybe I should learn sign language.” 

“Or you could keep learning to control your magic instead of giving up,” she retorts.

“Penny, it’s our last year. If I haven’t learned to control it by now, I never will,” I sigh.

We hear a thunk by the door and look at it, but nothing happens so we ignore it.

I want to sing along to the song. I like this song. But I’m really scared of making things worse again. I need to be careful.

When the song is over, she plays all the other songs she can find on his iPod. Surprisingly the Cyndi Lauper one is on there. Baz’s music taste is peculiar to say the least.

While the song’s playing, she continues writing all the notes she can remember from Friday night. Some I recognize, some I don’t.

After a while there’s almost a whole wall of notes between my bed and Baz’s. I think she’s thought of more phrases about time than she did on Friday. More phrases than I knew existed.

The door swings open and Baz barges in.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?” he says sounding more surprised than angry.

“Uhh- How- What are you doing in the room?” I ask.

“It’s my room too, fuckwit,” he retorts.

Penny looks at me and says, “You didn’t know he was going to be here?”

“Get back on your side of the room, and stop touching my stuff,” he says, then leaves slamming the door behind him.

Penny and I stare at each other for a moment.

“Was that supposed to happen?” she asks.

“No. He never comes back to the room until lunch.”

“Did you do anything different today that’d make him come back?”

“No. This doesn’t make any sense.”  
  
“We need to find him and find out why he came back so early.” 

I nod, and we wordlessly run out of the room to catch up with him.

* * *

We went down the stairs as fast as we could but there was no sign of him when we got outside.

“Do you know where he is normally?” she asks.

“He’s usually off in the Wavering Woods,” I tell her.

So, that’s where we go.

First I follow the trail Agatha and I went on, then I check the clearing I saw him in with the rabbit. We search all over.

A dryad approaches us.

“What do you seek?” the nymph asks, hovering over the ground even though I’ve already told her that it gives me the creeps. She’s got hair like moss, and she’s dressed like one of those manga girls with the Victorian boots and the umbrellas.

“Baz,” I say. “My roommate.”

“The dead one? With the pretty eyes?”

“Yes.” Is Baz dead? I’ve never thought of him that way. I mean, he is a vampire, I guess. “Wait, are you saying he’s dead? Like, really dead?”

“Never mind that,” Penny says. “Have you seen him?”

“The only boy I’ve seen today is you,” she says.

I sigh, disappointed.

“You walked right past me, and didn’t even notice me,” she continues, sounding peeved.

“Wait. Just now?” I ask.

“No. Almost an hour ago.”

“An hour ago?” Penny asks.

The nymph nods.

“You don’t think it’s-” I say.

“The Humdrum,” Penny confirms.

We thank the dryad and get well out of earshot and find a big log to sit on.   
  
“So all this time, I didn’t fuck up, and it was The Humdrum all along,” I say out loud to myself. 

“Maybe. But it’s also possible that you caused the loop still but it doesn’t affect The Humdrum just like it doesn’t affect you,” she says.  
  
“Oh.” 

“But this is all speculation.”

“What should we do?” I ask.

“I hate to say it, but I think we should tell The Mage.”

“The Mage isn’t here today,” I tell her.   
  
“Hmm. This is just a theory. But what if this really is all The Humdrums doing. It picked a day when The Mage isn’t here and there’ll be a lot of people out in the open because of the game tonight?” 

“Why make it repeat though?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was studying the day to get its plan right. Or maybe it’s like Edge of Tomorrow where it repeats it until it gets the outcome it wants. Maybe it’s been doing this for more than a week and you’ve only started becoming aware of it because it’s getting close to it’s goal because of its link with you. The world of mages doesn’t know a lot about time magic or The Humdrum so all we can do is grasp at straws.”

“Well, if it’s planning it’s attack today because of the game, then we have to cancel it. Keep everyone indoors.”

“It’s just a theory though,” she reminds me.  
  
“But we can’t do nothing. We can’t just wait and let The Humdrum do whatever it wants.”

“Okay. So. We cancel the game. But how are we going to do that?”

“I have an idea.”

* * *

We go to the sports storage closets. It full of footballs.

“We just have to destroy all of these. Piece of cake,” I say.

I call the sword of mages and use it to pierce the first ball. It deflates.  
  
“See? Easy,” I say.   
  
“It’s not going to work.” 

“Why?”

“For a number of reasons. But the main one- “, she says as she points her ring at the hole of the deflated ball. “ **_As you were!_ ** ”

The ball seals the tear and inflates again.

I frown at the ball.

If Baz were here, he could incinerate them without even using a wand. All my spells go wrong.  
  
“Wait!” I yell. “Remember last week when Rhys offered me a scone, and I used ‘accio?’”

“No. But what did I tell you about casting Harry Potter spells?” She asks.  “They're really dangerous! Someone in America cast expelliarmus on his friend and it ripped his arms off.”  
  
“Oh, right. This was on another Saturday. Okay, just trust me,” I tell her.   
  
I point my wand at the football and say, “ **_Accio football!_ ** ” 

The football explodes and is ripped into a million small pieces.

  
I look at Penny as it rains football bits, and she shrugs and nods.   
  
You can’t ‘as you were’ football-fetti. So I do it to all the footballs. 

It feels good. It feels like divine justice for every time I’ve been hit in the face. I should have been doing this all along. Penny still looks dubious about the plan, but even if this doesn’t work it still feels good.

I hear people coming as I destroy the last ball.

Marcus, with a buddy in tow, walks in and says, “Oi! What the hell?” gesturing at all the football carnage.

“We were going to practice before the game,” the buddy angrily states.

Marcus is a sixth year, so I don’t know his friends. But I recognize this one. He’s also on the team. He’s a goalie and he’s six foot bloody three.

“The game has to be canceled. We think The Humdrum is going to attack tonight,” I explain.

“You honestly believe I’m going to buy that rubbish? This is about your petty feud with Baz,” Marcus says.

“Everyone knows I support the team,” I say.

Neither of them look convinced.

The big one lunges and Penny casts, “ **_Stand your ground!_ **” and they almost fall over as their feet sink into the floor.

They start cursing at us using very colorful language. Not even Baz would say stuff like that. 

When Marcus gets out his wand, Penny points her ring at them and says, “If you don’t put that away, I’m going to cast ‘cat got your tongue.’”

Marcus quickly puts the wand away.

We walk around them to leave and Marcus shouts, “We’ll get you for this later, Snow!”

Marcus is like Baz. But not as elegant or intelligent. Also not as good looking. 

* * *

We go to lunch early.

Apparently arriving early is the trick to avoiding Philippa.

We fix our plates and sit at a table in the, not yet busy, dining hall.

“I have to say, I’m a bit proud of you for inventing a spell,” Penelope says.

“I didn’t invent it. It’s from Harry Potter,” I remind her, chewing on roast beef. I should probably learn to stop talking with food in my mouth.

“No. That’s a fake spell. You invented a real one with practical use from it.”

“I guess. I wouldn’t call blowing up stuff ‘practical,’” I say after swallowing.

“Well. It was useful today. Although. I don’t think that’s going to be enough to stop the game… There’s probably people that have spare a ball in their room, Coach Mac probably has some in his office, and the rival team could be bringing balls.”

I bury my face in my palm.

Phillipa slides into the seat next to me, grabs my head with both her hands and kisses me.

What?

Why is this happening?

What do I do?

Why does her mouth taste like roast beef?

Oh wait.

That’s my mouth.

I open my eyes and look over at Penny and see she’s gobsmacked. In the millisecond we make eye contact, she gives me a dirty look and I realize I have to put an end to this. 

I put my hands on Phillipa’s head like she did to me, and pull her face away from mine.

She is smiling like she’s drunk. She looks completely smitten.

“Hello…” I say. 

“Hi,” she squeaks back.

When I try to withdraw my hands she puts a hand over mine holding it against her cheek. Her other hand is on my cheek. She making eye contact so heavy it feels like it’s crushing me.

I manage to look away to look at Penny for help. She look just as taken aback as I feel.

Phillipa turns my face back towards her.

“You’re such a good kisser,” she says in her, to be brutally honest, less endearing English Betty Boop voice.

“Thanks,” I say.

I’m a good kisser? Agatha never said that.

Finally something I’m good at other than blowing up stuff.

 _Simon Snow: chosen one and good kisser._ Sounds good.   
  
Penny clears her throat. 

Oh, right. I’m not supposed to string her along. I’m supposed to tell her the truth but gently.

I take Phillipa’s hands in mine and look her in the face.

“Look. You’re a great girl, and any mage would be lucky to have you,” I say.

She’s still smiling but looks a little confused.

“But,” I continue, “I don’t have feelings for you. And I don’t think I ever will.”

She looks how she looked the day I snapped at her. Horrified. She looks completely devastated again. Her lip is trembling, but she’s not crying. Her eyes look angry.

“Philippa,” I start.

She slaps me. Hard.

“Philippa,” I say again, rubbing my cheek.

“I can’t believe I ever liked you, Simon Snow!” she squeals as she stands up.

She storms out and after a few minutes I decide to follow her. I want to talk. I don’t want her to hate me.

Penny follows too, saying “You should let her go. She’s clearly upset. And it wasn’t okay for her to kiss you without permission and it wasn’t okay for her to slap you. It was all unwarranted.”

* * *

I follow her back to the Cloisters, but of course, I can’t go in. Boys aren’t allowed in.

I huff and kick the door.

“Does this happen every day?” Penny aks.

“No. Today is all wonky.”

“Mm. Well. Let’s head over to the pitch. Maybe we can convince Coach Mac to cancel the game,” she suggests.

So, we go.

There’s a small crowd already formed and the team is gathered. It’s missing a fair few players though, including, Baz, Marcus and the tall bloke.

I glare at the footballs they have with them.

In the corner of my eye I notice in the distance some people going into the Wavering Wood. I hope it’s safe and The Humdrum isn’t still out there.

We go to Coach Mac and say, “We need to cancel the game today.”

Coach Mac says, “Don’t worry. I’m sure Baz will still show up.”

He thinks we’re worried we’ll lose without Baz.   
  
“No,” I correct him. “We think The Humdrum is going to attack the game.”

He looks surprised and says, “I’m sure The Mage wouldn’t have left if that was a possibility.”

“We think The Humdrum chose today _because_ The Mage left,” Penny says.

“Do you have any evidence?” Coach Mac asks.

Penny and I look at each other. We still haven’t told anyone else The Humdrum looks like me, and we’re pretty much solely basing this off of what a dryad said. Plus I don’t have any way to prove I’m in a time loop right now. Nothing noteworthy happens right now, and today is going differently anyways.

“Didn’t think so,” Coach Mac continues. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Baz and the others will be along any time now.”

I huff and Penny drags me away.

“What’s the point of being the chosen one if no one even believes me?”

“I have another idea,” Penny says.

“Yeah?”

“I read this book on weather spells. It’s kind of dangerous, but there is one to bring a thunderstorm, and that might be enough to cancel the game.”

“What is it?”

“It’s called ‘storm in a teacup.’ Normally it’s really dangerous to cast because the smaller the problem, the bigger the storm. But since this is such a big problem it should be very safe to cast. But because this is a _Humdrum attack_ , the storm might be too small for the game to even be canceled.”

“It’s worth a go, “ I say.

“Since your magic is stronger I suggest you cast it,” she says.   
  
“Oh. Uhh. Alright. **_Storm in a teacup!_ **” I say.

Lightning strikes in the middle of the pitch, exploding a football.

“Wicked,” I say.

It turns dark as the sky quickly fills up with grey clouds and a thunderous lightning strikes again half a kilometer away.

The wind picks up and starts blowing hard. Lighting strikes in The Wavering Wood and ignites a tree.

Another one strikes in the pitch and people start running and screaming.

Two more strike in the woods, causing more fires.

“Mission accomplished. I think we need to get inside now,” Penny says loudly over the wind, pulling on my arm.

“There are people in the woods,” I tell her. “We have to save them.”

Without any hesitation we run to the fire. Lightning is striking all around us.

The fire has spread all over. We both start shouting, “ **_make a wish!_ ** ” but it’s drowned out by the thunder.

Each time we cast, a tree goes out, but then catches fire from another one because of the winds.

We don’t give up though. We keep casting.

After maybe five minutes, lightning strikes right next to me. I could almost feel the electricity and my ears ring from the sound.

“ **_The storm has passed!_ ** ” Penny shouts.

“ **_The storm has passed!_ ** ” Penny shouts again.

Then she shouts “ **_third time’s the charm!_ ** ”

“ **_The storm has passed!_ **” Penny shouts a third time and it works. The storm has stopped.

The wind and thunder go quiet, and the sun comes back out.

But the fire is still raging.

We continue our barrage of “ **_make a wish!_ ** ” but even without the winds, it’s impossible to put out.

After a while I see some teachers in the distance come to help. 

In  the woods, on the other side of the fire we hear the words “ **_make a wish!_ ** ” boom. The fire all goes out before the teachers are even close.

We make our way in to search for the people.

Everything in the area is dark and burnt. And there’s still a lot of smoke so I can’t see very clearly. The smell of smoke always reminds me of the smell of my magic.

I’m walking past a tree and see something in my peripheral vision.

There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) Thank you to Harry, Ari and Caden for letting me bounce ideas and grammar checking and all that.
> 
> 2.) Next chapter will be out Saturday probably.


	9. DAY NINE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If I hear this song one more time, I’m going to go mad. Like. Seriously go mad.

**DAY NINE**

 

I spring into consciousness to the thunderous hit single.  


_ If you change your mind, I'm the first in line _ _  
_ _ Honey I'm still free _ _  
_ _ Take a chance on me _

If I hear this song one more time, I’m going to go mad. Like. Seriously go mad.  


“Turn that off,” I yell at Baz.  


“No.” he says.    


“Baz! The Humdrum is attacking the school and I need to talk to you,” I say, getting out of bed.

Baz looks me over, then turns it off.  


“What are you babbling about, Chosen One?”  


“I don’t know what’s happening, but all I know is that I’m in a time loop and The Humdrum has something to do with it.”

“Why should I believe you?” he asks.

I could tell him he goes to breakfast then goes to a woods and eats a rabbit. But breakfast is obvious, and the woods he’d say is a lucky guess, and he probably doesn’t know he’ll find a rabbit specifically yet.  


“Okay. So. Because I’ve had all this time from the loop, I can tell you everything you have in your wardrobe,” I explain.  


“You’ve been going through my wardrobe?” He asks.

“Yeah. Under your underwear drawer you have liquor and a remembrance paragon.”

He turns red. I think he’s angry.    
  
“You went through my underwear drawer?” he yells. “Where else have you looked? What else did you find while time was ‘looping?’”

“Seriously, Baz! Time really is looping. How else could I have had time to read half of The Captive Prince? I can even summarize everything that happens to prove it.”

His hands are balled into fists and he’s shaking. He looks furious.  


“GET OUT!” he shouts.  


“Baz! I’m serious! The Humdrum is here!” I yell back.  


“OUT!” he shouts.    
  
When I don’t move he starts coming at me. I don’t want the anathema to throw him out again.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll leave,” I say, and start taking off my pajama bottoms.

“What are you doing?” he snaps as he averts his eyes.  


“I can’t go out in pajamas,” I tell him. Not again at least.  


He looks angry as ever but still averts his eyes as I put on my trousers.  


Once they’re on the he starts coming at me again. I back away because I don’t want him to hit me, but instead he bends down and grabs my trainers, and a shirt. He takes it and throws it out the door.    
  
“OUT!” he yells again, fuming.  


When I leave, he slams the door shut behind me.  


I put on my shirt then realize I don’t have socks. So I knock on the door.

“Baz?... Baz, I need socks too.”  


I knock again.  


I give up and sigh. I walk to the top of the stairs then I hear the door open and close really fast.  


He threw out socks for me.  


I pick them up. They’re half burnt… Unwearable. Ugh.

I put my trainers on without them and make my way to the dining hall.  


* * *  


When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table.

I walk up to them, just like the last few days, look at Penny and  say, “time has been looping for over a week and we think The Humdrum is involved” as I grab the plate of scones, knife and butter dish.

Again she looks shocked but gets up without hesitation.  


I still tell Agatha to enjoy her run and she still doesn’t look shocked and just sighs loudly as we leave.

* * *

I take Penny to an empty classroom, and explain everything that happened last time.  


“And you don’t know what knocked you out?” she asks.  


“Not a clue.”

“So, today, we could do the same thing, but avoid Phillipa, and not go into the woods after we put out the fire,” she suggests.    


“Well. Since things seem to be going differently, and The Humdrum is around, I think we need to break out of the loop. Before I wanted to figure out what I said to cause the loop to see if we could break it without another spell since those always go wrong, but now I think we need to find another spell to break this as quickly as possible.”  


She nods, casts  “ **_see what I mean_ ** ,” and makes the categories, songs, movies and phrase.  


She writes, “ _ Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground _ ,” “ _ Manic Monday by The Bangles _ ,” “ _ Everyday is Like Sunday by Morrissey _ .”  


I point to the last one and say, “That sounds like a good way to start a different loop.”

She keeps filling out the categories, then after some time she gasps.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’ve been thinking about how to get you to tomorrow. But, if we put you tomorrow, and something bad happens today, there will be no way to stop it…”

“Oh,” I say disappointed.    


“But, if we put you yesterday, it’ll break the loop and you’ll be able to warn everyone. And I have the perfect spell for it.”

“What is it?”

“ _ Yesterday by The Beatles _ . It’s perfect. It fits this situation exactly,” she says excited.  


“So what do I do?”

“All you have to do is sing the first verse of it, and it’ll be Friday for you.”

“That’s it?” I ask.   
  
“Hopefully.”

I take out my wand and clear my throat. I’m not a very good singer. When music is playing, I’m comfortable singing along if only Penny is around. But without music it’s awkward. But I power through it.

“ **_Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away_ **

**_Now it looks as though they're here to stay_ **

**_Oh, I believe in yesterday._ ** ”

Penny has faded away. Is it Friday?

No one is in this classroom, and it’s usually full on weekdays.  


Maybe it’s later in the day on Friday?

The only thing I can think of to verify the day is my laptop. So I go to my room.  


* * *

As I run up the last few steps to my room, I think I hear voices from it.

I put my ear to the door and hear someone yell, “careful of the trophies!”  


It’s silent after that but I keep listening. After about twenty seconds bells start ringing. And chimes. It’s the Pink Floyd song Time.  


“I hope it’s not a song. If I accidentally cast spells singing, I’ll never be able to sing again,” I hear someone say.

What the hell?  


“If you didn’t cast it while singing, then you cast it while talking, and by that line of reasoning, you’ll never be able to speak again,” I hear what sounds like Penny say.    
  
“Shit... Maybe I should stop talking. Maybe I should learn sign language.”

Is that…  _ Me? _

Jesus Christ, I’m in  _ my _ yesterday! My last Saturday. Not Friday.  


Fuck, fuck, fuck!  


I kick the door in frustration. It makes a thunk sound.  


Shit! They heard that!  


I run all the way back downstairs.  


What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I can’t undo this without Penny…  


Who could help me?

Oh no.

_ Baz. _

* * *

I find him alone in the woods.

“I thought you gave up following me fifth year,” he says when he sees me. Then adds, “Did you come here to do more begging, Snow?”  


Begging?  


Oh right. Yesterday that got his attention. Wow. Why is he so fixated on that?

“Yes, actually,” I say.  


He crosses his arms looking vaguely interested. “Go on then,” he says.  


“... Okay. So. I- Uhh- Well-”

“Spit it out, Snow. You’d think you were trying to cast a spell.  _ Are you _ ? Next time, use your wand, it helps.”

I run my hands through my hair.  


This morning (well, I guess tomorrow morning) he got pretty upset when I said I went through his stuff. So. I have to be careful what I say.

“I haven’t got all day,” he drawls.  


“Okay. Have you seen Groundhogs Day?” I ask.  


“Do I strike you as someone who spends a lot of time watching Normal dribble?”

“So you’ve never heard of it?”  


He rolls his eyes, then says, “yes, I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, it’s what’s happening to me and The Humdrum is involved,” I explain.    


“Rubbish,” he says immediately. “If this was happening, why aren’t you off saving the day with Bunce?”  


“I ran into another hiccup,” I explain. “This go around, Penny and I tried a new spell to break the loop, and I ended up in today. Which is yesterday- I mean the last Saturday- I mean  _ my  _ last Saturday.”

Baz sighs, then points his wand at me and says, “ **_Begone, thot._ ** ”  


I go sliding backwards away from him until I thump into a tree.

I’ve never heard of ‘be gone, thought.’ Of course Baz knows all kinds of obscure spells.  


“Please Baz!” I yell. “I need your help. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t get Penny’s help today.”   


“Why? What’s wrong with today’s Bunce?”

“I’m with her,” I explain.  


He scans around with his eyes then gives me a look as if to say, ‘what the hell are you talking about?’

“Yesterday Simon is with her. Wait. No. Previous Saturday Simon is with her. Wait… No. Today Simon is with her. And I’m tomorrow Simon. Well, I’m  _ my  _ tomorrow Simon. Well… I’m my yesterday Simon’s tomorrow Simon.”

“It would take a genius to understand the clusterfuck you just said.”

“But,” he continues, “You happen to be talking to one, and either you accidentally made sense, because there’s no way you could keep that all straight intentionally,  for a convoluted prank, or you’re serious.”

“I am serious!”  


“Why not meet yourself and get her help?” he asks.  


“I can’t meet myself! If I did it could create a time paradox, which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the spacetime continuum and destroy the entire universe!”

“Okay, calm down there, Doc Brown.”

“I thought you said you don’t watch Normal movies.”

He rolls his eyes again and says, “My aunt Fiona likes the Back to the Future movies for some reason.”  


I don’t know what else to say so I say nothing. There’s a long silence between us.  


Finally he sighs and says, “I’m not saying I believe you. But. If you can give me proof, I’ll help you.”

I sigh in relief.  


“With one other condition,” he adds.  


“Sure,” I say. What could he possibly want?  


“You have to pull a prank on yourself.”   
  
“A prank? Don’t we have more pressing matters?” I ask.

“You do. I don’t.”

I growl.  


He grins.  


“I’m not sure how exactly to prove this,” I admit.  


“It’s obvious. Where is your yesterday's self?”  


* * *  


I take him to Mummers House. I wait outside while he goes upstairs.  


_ OH! _

This is why Baz came in the room yesterday! Trippy.  


After several minutes Baz comes out and says, “do you usually loiter on my side of the room?”

“I- Well- Oh shit!” I say, and pull him to the right, and around the corner to the eastern wall of Mummers House.  


He surprisingly lets me but raises an eyebrow.  


“We follow you out and look for you,” I explain.  


After a moment I peek around the corner and see them head off to the wood.  


“Woah. This is like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” I say.  


Baz nods, and says, “That’s the best one.”  


What the hell? Baz does like Harry Potter.  


I must be gaping at him because he says, “What?”  


We wordlessly decide to go up to our room while talking.

“Again, I thought you don’t like Normal movies,” I say.  


“There are exceptions to the rule,” he says.

“In what universe is Prisoner of Azkaban the best one?”

“All of them,” he says.

“I mean, it’s good. But it’s also the first dark one.”

“The first dark one? Voldemort doesn’t even attack them in that one. And Harry finds out he has a loving godfather. How is that dark?”  


“I suppose. But the first one is so nice… Miserable boy finds out he’s a wizard and makes wonderful friends, and eats candy, get picked to be on the quidditch team,” I say.

I open the door for Baz, and he goes in the room and I shut it behind us.    


“You think of yourself as Harry Potter, don’t you?” Baz accuses.

I don’t like where this is going.  


“Why do you even like those movies?” I ask as I get out some socks. “You’re basically Malfoy. The  _ bad _ guy.”  


Baz scoffs at that.  


“I’m obviously Cedric Diggory.”

I start laughing. Like, I’m really laughing. I have to sit down. I haven’t laughed in so long. It feels so good.  


“What?” Baz says defensively. “Cedric was one of the most academically distinguished students. I’m top of our class. He pretty much carried their quidditch team. I carry the football team.”

I finally stop laughing, and say, “Oh, I thought it was because of the Twilight thing.”

Baz sneers.  


“And you’re obviously Nevil,” he says.    


“How? I was prophesied. Just like Harry,” I say.  


“Have you even read the books?” Baz asks.  


“Uhh… No. They don’t have them in the library here, and Penny doesn’t have them, so I have no way of getting copies,” I admit.  


“If you had actually read the books, you’d know the prophecy could have just as easily been about Nevil. And Nevil is a disaster, just like you.”

I glare at him.  


He walks over to his wardrobe and reaches for a chest on top. How have I missed that every time I’ve searched his stuff? He puts the chest on his bed. It’s made of stained wood, and has a cat emblem on the top. He opens it and it’s filled with hardcover copies of all seven books. They even have special covers. It must be some sort of limited addition thing.  


“As long as you don’t ruin the pages with your butter fingers, you may read these,” he says.  


“And,” he adds. “If I don’t remember telling you you could borrow them, explain the situation and tell me…” He sighs. “Tell me that my favorite song is Rebel Rebel.”

“Seriously?” I asked surprised.  


He sneers again.

“You’re welcome,” he says, annoyed.    
  
“Sorry. It’s just, I love that song too. I thought your favorite song would be something classical or something. I knew you liked Bowie but I didn’t know you loved him,” I explain. Then add, “Thank you.”

I take off my trainers, put the socks on then put the trainers on again. Baz raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t verbally question it.  


“OH FUCK!” I yell.

Baz jumps.  


“What?” Baz asks.  


“I’m The Humdrum!” I say.  


“What?” Baz asks again, more confused.  


“I told you The Humdrum was involved in this. I thought it was because yesterday- today, a dryad must have seen me when I was on my way to you. And yesterday me- today me, talks to and it says it had seen me. And other me and Penny think it’s The Humdrum. But it’s  _ me  _ me,” I try to explain.  


“Okay. For starters. To make things easier for you. We’ll call today yesterday, we’ll call other day Simon yesterday Simon, and we’ll call tomorrow tomorrow. It doesn’t all match up but I think it’ll help. But also, why would you think it’s The Humdrum if a dryad said it saw you?” Baz asks.  


I sigh.

“Remember at the end of last year The Humdrum snatched up Penny and I?”  


“Of course.”

“It looks like me… Like an eleven year old me…” I admit.

“Why haven’t people been told this? Why the secrecy?  


“Would you want people to know if you looked like The Humdrum?”

“I suppose not.”

We sit in silence for a few moments.  


“So. Yeah. I guess The Humdrum isn’t involved in this. This is all my fault. I’m such a fuck up,” I say.

“What else is new?”

“Well, if The Humdrum isn’t involved, I guess I don’t need your help anymore. I just have to wait for the day to reset.”

“I love being the bearer of bad news, so actually you do need my help. You could have caused a nested loop or something,” he says.

  
“A what?”  


“A loop inside a loop. This could be a disaster. I’m sure you’re used to being a disaster by now, but this could be worse. Time isn’t supposed to be messed with. If we don’t get you back to the right iteration, who knows what could happen. If there’s two of you now, when the day resets, both of you could be morphed into one in the next iteration. That could mean you go mad with two minds in your head. Or that could mean you become a four armed, four legged, two headed monster. Or, one of you could die. If two of you cross the threshold of the next iteration, and only one of you ends up on the other side, then one of you will have basically died.”

Holy fuck… That sounds horrifying.

“But if we put you back where you came from, that won’t be a problem,” he says.  


“And you can help me do that?” I ask.  


“I believe so. At a price.”

“Oh, right. The prank. What do you want me to do?”

“You know that girl who’s always fawning over you? You’re going to finally give her what she wants.”

The events of yesterday are all clicking into place. That arsehole sent Phillipa after me yesterday.  


“That was you?” I snap.

“Technically, it was you,” he happily corrects.  


“You of all people shouldn’t be playing with her feelings,” I say feeling angry.  


He’s the one who stole her voice. He’s the reason she sounds the way she does.    


“Come off it. She won’t even remember this,” he points out.  


“Neither will you,” I say.  


“Yes. But you will. And that’s what matters.”  


I growl.

He grimaces.  


“Do you want my help or not?” he asks.  


“Yes, fine. What do you want me to say to her.”

“Tell her you want to go out with her and tell her to meet you wherever yesterday Simon is. And throw in something about loving surprise kisses.”

I glare daggers at him.  


“I don’t even know where she is right now though,” I say.

“She’s always lurking around your haunts, waiting to intentionally run into you.”

I say nothing.

“She’s probably waiting around the entrance of the dining hall or library,” he says.  


“You’re foul,” I tell him.  


* * *

We do find Phillipa around the entrance to the dining hall.  


Like usual, she runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

I know yesterday me is coming this way any moment, so I continue walking around the building when I say, “Hi, Phillipa.”

She follows and says “Do you want to go to the game tonight?”  


I can’t believe I’m doing this. I should stop.  


Baz is walking with us and he elbows me.

_ She won’t remember. She won’t remember. She won’t remember.  
_

“Yes. I would…” I say.  


She jumps and squeals with excitement. It’s ear splitting.  


I know she’s about to tell me she’ll see me there, so I grab her hand.  


Her face flushes.  


_ I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself.  
_

_ I hate Baz.  
_

“Actually, I was hoping you’d have lunch with me too. And.” I say.  


I close my eyes tight.  


“I just want you to know I’m a fan of... ‘Hello kisses,’” I continue.  


I open my eyes in time to see her jaw drop.  


“I have to do something with Baz, but meet me in the dining hall in a few minutes.” I tell her.

“Bye, Phillipa,” Baz says, and drags me away, leaving her standing there in shock.  


He leads me to the back entrance of the dining hall. No one ever uses it.  


“Are you going to help me now?” I ask.

“No.”

“Why the hell not? I did what you asked,” I say, raising my voice.  


He shushes me and says, “I want to see what happens.”.  


He leads me through a hallway in the back of the dinning hall that leads to the toilets.

We peek around the corner and we see yester-Simon and Penny eating.   


I see yester-Simon facepalm, then Phillipa slides into the seat next him, grabs his head with both her hands and kisses him.  


This is awkward to watch. I can’t help but cringe.  


Why is it taking me so long to stop it?  


Oh my god. Why aren’t I stopping that?  


I glance at Baz. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks furious. He’s glaring at them.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” I ask him.

“I have to use the loo,” he says sounding annoyed, and stalks off.  


When I look back at them, they’re just staring at each other, touching each others cheeks.  


Yester-Simon looks at Penny then back at Phillipa, then takes her hands. They talk for a moment, then she recoils her hands.

Then she slaps him.  


Yep. I deserved that.  


“I can’t believe I ever liked you, Simon Snow!” she squeals loud enough for me to hear, as she gets up.  


She storms out and after a few minutes yester-Simon follows.  


I look around.  


With him gone, I guess I can have lunch now.  


I go ahead and fix myself a plate and sit down.

As I bite into the roast beef, I can’t help but remember that kiss. And it makes me feel so guilty.  


After a few bites I lose my appetite and I put my face in my palms and close my eyes.  


When I feel someone slide into the seat next to me, I say, “Are you happy?”

“No, but I’m going to be,” I hear someone who isn’t Baz say.  


I look and it’s Marcus.  


I’m about to get up to leave when his towering friend slides into the seat on the other side of me, sandwiching me between the two of them.

“If you make a scene we’re going to use ‘cat got your tongue,’” Marcus says, as him and his friend grab me by the arms and practically carry me off.   


“What the hell are you guys doing?” I ask quietly so I don’t make a scene.  


I see another two blokes are also following us.  


“We’re showing you what happens when you bring us into your drama with Baz. Showing you what happens when you meddle in our football games,” Marcus says calmly.  


They take me outside, and toward the wavering wood, as my magic starts leaking.  


I think I can see myself at the pitch. My yesterday self.  


Oh no.  


“We can’t go in there! There’s going to be a fire!”  warn them.  


They all laugh as they drag me in.  


We go deeper and deeper.  


“Seriously! This whole area is going to be on fire soon!”  


When they finally let go of me, I take my wand out. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. But I take it out.  


One of them punches me in the face.  


There’s a sharp pain and everything goes blurry.  


I fall over. My magic comes welling up.

“You have to stop. Even if there isn’t a fire, I could go off and hurt someone,” I say trying to be calm.  


That earns me a kick to the ribs.  


It hurts so much more than all the footballs to the face combined. I groan and roll over.  


My magic is spilling all over the place and they start getting drunk off it. It’s smelling like smoke before the fire has even started.  


Someone kicks my back and I groan again.

I try to get up, but someone kicks my shoulder and I fall back down.

They circle me and I start getting kicked from every direction. I try to curl into a ball and protect my head. I feel each kick. The pain shoots through my body over and over again.  


I think one cracked a rib. It hurts to breathe.  


I start crying. It hurts to cry.   


I could go off and kill them all at any moment. I don’t want to kill anyone.  


“Please stop!” I beg. It hurts to speak.

They laugh at me again.  


“You’re all in danger!” I yell  through the pain.  


They keep laughing.  


“Stop!” I hear Baz demand. I can’t see him, but I could recognize that voice from anywhere.  


Someone steps on my temple, crushing my head into the ground.  


“We’re not your minions. You know he was trying to have the game canceled, right?” Marcus says.  


“Baz! There’s going to be a fire here! You have to leave!” I yell.  


He’s a vampire. If the flames touch him, he’ll get vaporized.  


“I’m not going to ask again,” Baz threatens.  


“This is just as much your fault,” someone says to Baz.

“Yeah,” Marcus agrees. “You always start petty nonsense with him and it’s affecting us.”  


I can only see legs from this angle. And it’s blurry.  


But I see Baz’s unmistakable legs calmly walk towards one of my attackers. I hear a loud smack and the attacker falls over and doesn’t get up. He must have been knocked out cold.

Thunder booms as the first lightning strikes.  


The foot comes off my head and Marcus says, “What the fuck, Baz?”

I try to sit up but the sharp pain in my ribs is too bad, so all I can do is watch from the ground as everyone circles Baz.  


The thunder booms again louder as the winds pick up. Everything is so loud.

Baz kicks the one on the left in the knee. It makes a horrible crunching sound and he falls over. I think he broke something.  


Before he even hits the ground, Baz punches the middle one in the bollocks! When he doubles over, I see it’s Marcus and Baz knees him in the face.   


Two down, one to go.  


Lightning strikes one of the nearby trees and it ignites.  


The tall guy punches Baz in the face and Baz isn’t even phased.  


Baz grabs the guy and slams him into the ground.  


He doesn’t get up.

With the bloke with the probably shattered knee yelling in the background, Baz comes up to me and asks, “Are you okay?”  


“I think my rib is broken. But that was diabolical! Is that vampire strength?”  


Thunder booms again.

Baz rolls his eyes, points his wand at me and says, “ **_Get well soon!_ ** ”  


It still hurts but it feels loads better. The feeling reminds me of how it felt when I touched his remembrance paragon. It’s like a pleasant heat numbing the pain.  


Lightning strikes again behind us, lighting another tree on fire.  


“We need to get you out of here,” I yell to Baz.  


“What about them?” Baz asks.  


Fuck, he’s right.  


Baz helps me up.  


I reach for my wand and I realize it’s not there. It must have fallen somewhere during the fight. If you’d even call that a fight. I didn’t throw a single punch.  


Baz gets out his wand, points it at the fire and yells, “ **_Make a wish!_ ** ”  


Lightning strikes a third tree, and now the fire is spreading all around us.  


Every time Baz casts it, there’s a small gap in the fire. But it only lasts a moment before it’s engulfed again.

“Please tell me you managed to put this out yesterday,” Baz yells, in between his barrage of spells.  


“It went out but we didn’t do it! I don’t know what did!” I yell.

When I say that, the lightning and winds stop, but the fire keeps raging.  


Baz continues to cast “ **_Make a wish!_ ** ” over and over.  


I know yester-Simon and Penny are on the other side of the fire doing the same thing.  


The fire just keeps getting closer and closer. I know it goes out, but I don’t know how.  


I keep waiting for it to happen, whatever “it” is. But it doesn’t.  


The heat gets intense. We’re both sweating. The smoke is making my eyes sting.

The bloke with the shattered knee is sobbing.  


I see Baz’s arm begin to shake as he’s casting.  


I put my hand on his shoulder to steady him. And then I do something I’ve never done before. Something I’ve never tried before. I push. I take some of the magic that’s always trying to get out of me, and I just push it into Baz.  


His arm straightens like a rod.  


The words boom as he says, “ **_Make a wish!_ ** ” And  _ all  _ the fire goes out.  


We stare at each other, both trying to make sense of what just happened.  


There’s a “thunk” and we turn around. A branch had fallen off a tree and  fell on the other guy and knocked him out.  


I go pick it up off of him.  


“How are we going to explain this?” I ask gesturing at the four unconscious wankers.  


“With lots of blustering, if you’re involved,” he says.

“Oh shit,” I say, and pull Baz behind a tree.  


To my surprise, he lets me. And he doesn’t ask why either. He just looks at me. Not expectantly. Just like he’s studying me.  


When I hear footsteps I get ready.  


As soon as yester-Simon walks past, I swing and hit him in the face with the branch.  


Penny screams.  


“Penny! It’s okay! It’s just me,” I say.  


Penny looks between yester-Simon and me, and says, “What in the fuck knuckle is going on?”  


“Uhh- So- Tomorrow, which is also today, we try to get me, which is also him,” I point at yester-Simon, ”out of the loop, but instead of putting me in Friday it put me in today which is yesterday, but not Friday.”

Penny looks confused.  


“In the next iteration, you accidentally send him into the previous iteration,” Baz says.  


“Oh… Oh.  _ Oh _ ,” She says and punches Baz in the arm.  


“He’s helping!” I tell Penny.  


“By sending Phillipa after you?” She demands.  


“Technically that was him,” Baz says.  


Penny punches me in the shoulder.  


“Oww!” I cry out in pain. It was one of the places I was kicked.  


“Oh! I’m sorry,” Penny says sincerely, noticing how beat up I look.  


“Let’s get you back to the room,” Baz says.  


“How are we going to explain him?” I ask, pointing at yester-Simon, who’s laying face down and not moving, then gesture to the incoming teachers.  


“I’m sure they won’t notice in all the chaos,” Penny says.  


I nick yester-Simon’s wand.

* * *

With one arm around Penny and one around Baz, they helped me back to the room. It wasn’t fun. I still hurt all over.  


Penny and Baz have been trying to come up with a spell to get me back to my “correct iteration,” for a few hours. It has gotten dark.  


Penny eventually asks, “Why didn’t you come to me sooner? And why did you knock out ‘yester-Simon?’”  


“Doc Brown over there thinks that’ll destroy the universe,” Baz says.  


Penny and Baz look at each other like they just got it.    
  
“ _ Marty! You’ve gotta come back with me! _ ” they say at the same time.  


“What?” I ask.  


“Not ‘what,’” Penny says.

“Where,” Baz states. “Back to the future.”   


“Is that the spell?” I ask.

“No” they say at the same time. It’s a little unsettling.  


“Then what is it?”

“‘Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.’ That’s the spell,” Baz says.  


“Are you sure it’s going to work?” I ask.  


“We can’t be sure,” Baz says. “It could put you in October 21st, 2015.”

I gulp and look at Penny.  


“I think it’s our best chance,” she tells me.    
  
“Okay. Umm. For reasons I’ll explain on Sunday, I’m going to leave the room to cast this,” I say.

“What did you do?” Baz asks acquisitively.  


“I’ll tell you Sunday,” I say as I head to the door.    
  
Baz stops me and said, “No, you’ll tell me now.”  


“Why? You’ll just forget,” I say.  


“Tell me, Snow,” he demands.  


I sigh.  


“Tomorrow, I try to enlist your help because I think The Humdrum is attacking...”

“And?” he asks, getting impatient.  


“And.. You don’t believe me, so to convince you I tell you about how I looked through all of your stuff, and read The Captive Prince.”

He looks angry like he did this morning. Red in the face. But then he closes his eyes and sighs.  


“You’re a complete and utter moron. You know that, right?” He says.  


“Yeah. I know,” I say and I move toward the door again.

Baz stops me again, and says, “Little puff.”  


“What?”  


“It’s what my mother used to call me. Tell me that tomorrow,” he says.  


“Thank you,” I say, and move toward the door again. He lets me.  


I leave the room, close the door and say, “ **_Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!_ ** ”

Everything feels the same.  


I knock on the door.  


There’s no answer.  


I knock again and softly call out, “Baz?”

I knock again and say, “your favorite song is Rebel Rebel.”

Baz cracks the door open and stares me down.  


I must have a black eye or something, because he asks, “What happened to you?”  


“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on Sunday. Can I please come in?”

“Since I’m probably going to forget about you going through my stuff, and there’s a slight possibility that you’ll actually learn from this and not tell me next time, the only way for me to exact revenge is to make you sleep outside while I still can,” he says, and slams the door shut.  


I softly knock on the door again.  


No response.

“Baz. Your mum used to call you little puff,” I say.  


He cracks the door open again and asks, “Did I know what you did when I told you that?”

“It’s why you told me,” I say.  


He opens the door all the way and lets me in.  


I lay on my bed. It’s hard to get comfortable with all the new bruises.  


“So what happened?” He asks again.  


“I’ll tell you Sunday,” I tell him again.  


“No. You’ll tell me now,” he demands.  


So I tell him. I tell him everything. Everything from the first Saturday to now.  


When I tell him about the blue journal he laughs.  


“That’s a birthday present for my little sister,” he tells me. “You have to cast ‘set password’ first.”

I’ve never noticed before, but he has a really nice laugh. It’s contagious and I find myself giggling with him. Maybe this is the first time I’ve heard his real laugh.  


When we get to the third time I got hit in the face with the football, he swears up and down he didn’t do it on purpose.  


“I would never compromise the game just to get back at you. If I wanted to, I could just punch you after the game.”

I tell him about all the other times, and he attributes it all to being surprised to see me apparate.  


When I bring up the time I wore a helmet he laughs and still insists it was all unintentional.  


The laughter goes away when I tell him about the remembrance paragon.  


I really fucked up that day. I’ve done a lot of bad things during this loop, but that was the worst.  


“Baz, I’m really sorry. I truly thought it was evil… If I had any idea at all, I would never have done that.”

We are silent for a little while.  


He’s not going to forgive me.  


Good.  


I don’t deserve it.  


“If you want to take your words back, you can,” I say quietly.  


“What?” He asks.  


“Rebel Rebel and little puff. I won’t say it again if you want to take it back,” I explain.  


The room goes silent again.  


Finally, he says, “Keep them. As long as you’re in a loop, everyone is. And if you want out of it, you’re going to need my help.”

“Thank you,” I say.  


After some more silence I continue to talk about my escapades.  


When I tell him about when time was slowed and I could destroy stuff easily he says, “You’re so clumsy, I’m surprised you didn’t kill anyone. If you jogged into someone you probably would have ripped right through them.”

I shudder at the thought.

When I tell him about Marcus’s bag, he laughs, and it makes me laugh.

“I wish I could have seen that gits face when he noticed his bag soaked. I hope it fried his laptop,” he says.  


“I didn’t even think of that,” I say. “It was just the first thing I thought of to clean it.”

He laughs and calls me a dimwit. I laugh with him.

“I thought Marcus was your cousin,” I say.

“He’s still a spoiled git,” he says.

I laugh extra hard at that. That’s how I always thought of Baz.

I decide not to talk about the fact I know for certain he’s a vampire, or what happened in the woods with my magic. It’s late. And he won’t remember. Maybe I’ll tell him tomorrow.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I tell Baz. “I’m completely knackered.”  


Baz sighs and gets comfortable in his bed, then says, “Nox,” to turn off the lights.   


That makes me smile and I quickly drift off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) Baz’s favorite song is a shout out to BasicBathsheba’s fic Rebel Rebel. If you haven’t read it, please do. It is a must. All her fics are pure gold, but Rebel Rebel is like platinum. 
> 
> 2.) Thank you to Harry, Ari and Caden for letting my bounce ideas and grammar checking and all that.
> 
> 3.) Big thanks to Ari for Baz’s fight scene. I pretty much just asked him what he’d do if three dudes circled him and went with that. He’s had bodyguard training. He’s my combat expert. 
> 
> 4.) When Baz says the thing about ripping through someone by running into someone at a high speed. If you wanna know what that looks like, look up the trailer for The Boys on YouTube. It shows that. And the show is on Amazon and is super cool, and I highly recommend it. But it is fairly dark.
> 
> 5.) I didn’t want to make this actually part of the story, but when Baz says “Bye, Phillipa,” in my head he was saying it like, “Bye Felicia.” 
> 
> 6.) If Baz seemed too nice. There’s a reason for it. When he tells Simon about how Simon could be dying in the nested loops, it’s because he is. If you think about it, it would be a plot hole that Simon goes back in time because of something that happened when he went back in time. The cause and effect don’t match up quite right. So. What happened is, the first time day eight happened, it went off normally, and they tried to leave the loop and failed. And the next day they tried the song Yesterday to try something new. Then that started the nested loop. So, every day nine, Simon went back to day eight and died after being unable to return to day nine, altering day eight over and over until it ended in a way that successfully got him back to day nine, exiting the nested loop. So. Baz is aware that Simon is probably dying over and over and he doesn’t want him to suffer too much, but just in case this is the time Simon makes it out, he can’t be too nice, otherwise Simon might suspect how Baz feels. If you’re confused, don’t worry about it. Lol. It’s not important.


	10. DAY TEN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know why I was getting so worked up about this song before. I’m starting to like it again. It’s a good song.

**DAY TEN**

 

I snap awake to my usual.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_  
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

I don’t know why I was getting so worked up about this song before. I’m starting to like it again. It’s a good song.

I do a quick mental check of my body. No pain. The reset must have healed me.

I see Baz fiddling with his hair in the mirror. I smile at him.

While I watch him he either doesn’t notice me or pretends not to.

When he turns around from the mirror he says, “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

I frown.

Back to this Baz. I miss the last two Bazs.

I mean. I don’t miss him. He’s my enemy.

But the last two were nicer. They didn’t hate me as much.

Maybe I can get that Baz back again.

When he walks towards the door I yell, “wait!”

He pauses for a moment. I think he’s trying to decide if he should ignore me. Or maybe he’s trying to think of something nasty to say.  
  
Before he can do any of that, I say, “Your favorite song is Rebel Rebel, and your mum used to call you little puff.”

He goes to his iPod to turn the music off then looks at me expectantly.

“There’s a time loop just like Groundhog Day. Stay here while I get Penny and we’ll work on it,” I tell him and start getting dressed. .

“Crowely. How the hell did you rope _me_ into this?” he asks and averts his eyes while I put my trousers on.

“Well, it came at a price,” I say.

“Elaborate,” he says.

I was going to get Penny in the room before I explain anything so I don’t have to do it twice. I’m so tired of explaining. But she’ll get mad if she hears this part and that won’t help anything.

“You made me pull a prank on myself.”

He looks at me suspiciously and says, “That doesn’t make any sense. How could you prank yourself?”

I groan. I really hate explaining every time.

“Just. Ugh. Please. I’ll explain it Sunday. I promise it was mean,” I say.

“Snow, give me the abridged version or I’m going to go,” he drawls.

“One of the spells we tried to use to leave the loop but put me in the previous iteration, causing a nested loop, and you had me prank my previous self.”

“Well, you definitely didn’t learn those words on your own so fine. Go fetch Bunce,” he says, giving me a shooing gesture.

As I’m heading out the door he yells, “Bring me a pot of tea.”

* * *

When I get there, it’s almost empty but I see Penny and Agatha sitting at our usual spot at the table.

I walk up to them, just like the last few days, look at Penny and  say, “time has been looping for over a week and Baz is helping” as I grab the plate of scones, knife and butter dish.

Again she looks shocked but gets up without hesitation.

Agatha looks more shocked. She looks like she’s trying to process it and come up with questions but can’t. I think I broke her.

I guess a time loop is run of the mill, but Baz helping is unthinkable.

I hand all the stuff in my hands to Penny and she struggles to hold on to it all.

I go up to where Dev and Neil are sitting and take the teapot and empty cup.  
  
“The hell?” Neil says.  
  
“Oh- Uhh- Well- Baz is sick and asked me to bring this to him,” I say.

They look at each other like they’re asking the other what they should do. Neither of them seem to know, so I just walk away.

* * *

When we get to the room, Baz nods at Penny and just says, “Bunce,” as a greeting.

Penny says, “how the hell did you rope _Baz_ into this?”

“Sunday. Please. I’ll explain Sunday. Let’s just stick the the important parts right now” I say.

They don’t say anything and I take that as agreement.

I get in bed start eating as I tell them that I must have said something with magic while helping Penny with her project but I don’t know what.

Baz looks horrified when he sees me eat the butter but says nothing. I feel a bit embarrassed and stop. I know he won’t remember but I don’t know. I still don’t want to give Baz more ammunition to mock me.

“Why haven’t you tried a memory jogging spell?” Baz asks Penny, like she missed something obvious.  
  
“That’s actually a really good idea,” she admits.

They both look at me while my mouth is filled with sour cherry scones. I do my best to quickly chew and swallow.

They look at me expectantly so I get up.

“The spell is ‘retrace your steps,’” Baz says. “Think really hard about Friday night when you think you said whatever it is you said.”

I get out my wand and ask, “Are you sure?...”

Everything I cast goes horribly. But. Then again, the last spell Baz gave me worked.

Baz rolls his eyes and says, “It’s a basic spell. Second years can do it.”

I take a deep breath, get out my wand and put the wait of my magic into it as I say, “ **_Retrace your steps!_ **”

We all start walking backwards to wherever we were before. Baz walks backwards to his desk, I start walking back to my bed, Penny is headed out the door.

“ **_Alt-F4!_ **” Baz says, and we all stop.

“What the hell was that?” Baz asks.

“Simon’s spells tend to go a bit literal,” Penny says in my defence.

They think in silence for a few moments.  
  
“Maybe he could sing Tomorrow from Annie,” Penny suggests.  
  
“No. That could turn Snow into an orphan,” Baz says, like it’s a real but only vaguely important concern.

Penny glares at him and he doesn’t acknowledge it. I’m used to it so it doesn’t bother me.

“Well, if Snow’s spells go literal, there is one that should work,” Baz says.

“What is it?” I ask.

“‘Out of the loop,’” Baz says.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I say.

“Actually,” Penny says. “It’s sort of brilliant. It’s literal and a common phrase.

I sigh and get my wand ready.  
  
I look at Baz and he just looks stoic.

I look at Penny and she gives me a reassuring nod.

“ **_Out of the loop!_ **”

Penny disappears.

_Penny fucking disappeared!  
_

She’s fucking gone!

“Crowley,” Baz says.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?” I shout.

“She’s out of the loop,” he states.

“WE HAVE TO GET HER BACK!” I say still shouting.

“She’ll be fine. She’s probably not dead,” he tells me.

“PROBABLY?”

Baz shrugs.

I start pacing around the room. What am I going to do? I need her.

My magic starts leaking and the room begins to smell like smoke.

“She’ll be waiting for you on Sunday most likely,” Baz says. I don’t like the “most likely” part, but I think he’s trying to comfort me.

“Why does _everything_ I do go wrong?” I say to myself.

“Sod’s law,” Baz says.

I have to see if she’s still here. I have to restart the loop. How do I knock myself out?

“Baz! I need you to punch me as hard as you can.”

“No.”

“Why?” I ask.  
  
“The roommates anathema,” he reminds me.

Oh, right.

I open the door and take a few steps out of the room.  
  
“Okay, Baz. Hit me!” I say.  
  
“No.”

“Why?” I ask again.  
  
“She won’t be there,” he tells me.  
  
“I have to check.”

“As much as I’d love to hit you, it’s a waste of time and effort,” he says like he’s bored.

“I went through your stuff,” I tell him. “I know about the liquor. I read The Captive prince.”

He walks up to me menacingly.

I brace for impact.

He punches me in the arm!

“Oww! What the hell?” I ask.

“You told me to punch you,” he says.  
  
“I meant in the face!”

“You didn’t specify,” he says.  
  
“How is a punch to the arm supposed to knock me out?” I ask rubbing my arm. It hurts a lot, but I saw what he did in the forest. I know he could do worse.

“It’s not my place to question the chosen one,” he says with a hint of malice.

I glare at him and mutter “It’s not like that’s ever stopped you before.”

“Did I know about you going though my stuff when I told you the words?” Baz asks like he’s trying to hold back anger.  
  
“Yes,” I say. “But you might have just felt bad for me.”

“Why would I ever feel bad for you?” he asks.

“I was beaten up pretty badly,” I explain.

His eyes narrow.  
  
“By who? Why?”

I tell him about the fight in the forest. I don’t even try to hide how cool it was. I tell him about how he took on all four of them easily.

“It must have felt glorious to punch Marcus in the bollocks,” he says, not bothering to hide his amusement.

I realize we’re getting off topic.  
  
“We have to get Penny back,” I remind him.  
  
“If she didn’t solve it in over a week she wasn’t going to,” he says.

“It was more complicated than that.”  
  
“I don’t see how doing the same thing every day is complicated. If anything it should be boring by now,” he says.

I hope this doesn’t become routine, but I go over most of the days and what went wrong each time. I get out a pen and paper to write all the failed spells because I don’t trust myself to say them out loud.

“They should really change it to Simon’s law,” is all he says.

“Fuck off.”

“Give me your wand,” he says.

I hold it up to look at it and ask, “why?”

He snatches it out of my hands, and says, “Because every time you use this it goes horribly wrong. I should snap it. I’d be doing you a favor.

I growl. I miss yesterday’s Baz.

“Calm down,” he says. “I have a few ideas on how to get her back.”

He takes out his own wand and says, “ **_A penny saved is a penny earned!_ ** ”

We look around. Nothing seems to have happened.

He sighs and says, “ **_Fetch a pretty penny!_ ** ”

He frowns.

“ **_In for a penny, in for a pound!_ ** ”

Again. Nothing.

I must be looking disappointed because he sneers like he’s taking it personally.

I really miss the other Baz. He was still a prick, but I don’t know. The antagonism felt more playful. I enjoyed his company.

“ **_A penny for your thoughts!_ ** ”

We lock eyes.

_I feel him… In my head._

I don’t know how, but I can just tell he knows everything I was just thinking.

He blinks.

“You’re right,” he says. “It was just because I felt bad for you.”

I growl and feel myself flush. Why does he always have to say the worst possible thing. Right when I’m starting to think he isn’t so bad he says something like that.

Baz folds his arms and looks bored.

“So, what now?” I ask, trying not to sound devastated. Not that I am devastated. Maybe just a little disappointed.

“So, all the work you did on Friday night was for Bunce’s proposal?” Baz asks.  
  
“Yeah.”

He sighs and says, “Well, considering the context of the time spell, it could be solved by means of some sort of romantic conquest. I don’t know what. But that seems like you’re best chance currently.”

“Romantic conquest?” I ask.

He rolls his eyes.  
  
“Maybe you have to ask someone out or give them a snog. I don’t know,” Baz says stiffly, sounding annoyed.  
  
“But who?”

“Hell and horrors, Snow. Go live out your golden destiny with Wellbelove,” he says like it’s annoyingly obvious.  
  
“But she doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“Of course she does. Who wouldn’t?” he snaps.

I look at him and he quickly says, “You’re the chosen one. People fawn over you. Go out with the Stainton girl, if Wellbelove has realized the social status isn’t worth having to spend another moment in your presence.”

I growl. Not at him. At the situation.

What could I possibly say to Agatha to make her want to go out with me again? Would it even work to kiss Phillipa if I don’t like her?  
  
I guess I did kiss her once already and I’m still stuck in Saturday.

“Alright,” I say. “I guess I’ll go find Agatha.”

“Go spout a few cliches about love and forgiveness and that princess will take you back in an instant. Tell her you’re desperately attracted to her and call her darling.”

I glare at him.

“Since you’re going to fix the loop and today counts, I have a football game to prepare for,” he says and stalks out of the room slamming the door shut behind him.

Lunch hasn’t started yet, so he’s probably going hunting. 

* * *

I find Agatha on her run  in the courtyard on her way to the bridge. I remembered seeing her around there when looking for Baz. Her hair glows in the sunlight.

I jog to catch up, and yell, “Agatha! Wait up!”

She jogs in place until I reach her then we both continue.

I’m not sure what to say to her. I’ve been wanting to win her back since we broke up. I just always made things worse when I tried.

“Aren’t you supposed to be fixing time with Penelope and Baz or something?” she says.

I frown thinking about Penny.

“Oh. Uhh. Right. Yes,” I say.

We jog toward the pitch.

I’m not a poet. I don’t know how to do what Baz said. So, I’ll just be honest with her.

“Agatha, can we stop for a minute?” I ask.

She stops and sighs. I can’t tell if it’s because she’s out of breath or annoyed.

“So, we’re stuck in this time loop,” I say.

“No, Simon. _You’re_ stuck in the loop,” she says.

“Baz says if I am then everyone is.”

“Since when do you listen to Baz?” she asks.

“It’s a long story. But. I was hoping we could go out again... “

“I told you, I don’t want to be with you anymore,” she says.

She has said it before. And it still hurts.

“But. You’re my girl. We’re eventually going to work this out and get back together. You’re my future,” I say.

“No, Simon. I don’t like you like that anymore. I don’t want any part of your drama. I just don’t care. I have no interest in going out with you anymore. Not now. Not ever. I’m not your prize. Please just leave me alone,” she says and runs off, leaving me in her wake.

I know- I knew- I- I thought the break up was temporary.

It never occurred to me that she wouldn’t be there for me when I needed her.

I feel my magic well to the surface and I see some people looking at me. Do my edges look blurred to them? Can they smell the smoke?

I feel a wetness on my face.

I wipe it off with my sleeve but then the wetness is back. I’m crying. I feel my lip tremble.

* * *

I ran all the way back to my room. I couldn’t stop crying and the endless tears have turned into sobs now that I’m laying in bed, clutching a tear soaked pillow.

What am I supposed to do without Agatha? Forget leaving the loop. She was my future. Without her there is nothing for me when the wars are over. The wars are it for me now.

If I even ever get there. I might just be here forever.

Penny’s gone, and Agatha is gone, and now all I have is Baz.

And he hates me.

A loud sob rakes through my body and up my throat.

I’m going to be stuck in this day forever alone. It doesn’t even matter if I make it to Sunday because I’ll be alone forever no matter what. Even if I got Penny back, she’s going to move to America and live with Micha.

When my stomach growls, I realized I’ve been like this for a long time. My nose is stuffed up and my head hurts. It’s gotten darker and I missed lunch. So, I go over to Baz’s bed, sit down and eat his crisps. They’re saltier than my tears.

When I’m done with them, my mind goes right back to where it was before. I pick up Baz’s pillow and sob into it. It smells like him. And that makes me cry harder.

When I started crying, it was because Agatha didn’t love me. But my thoughts keep going more and more towards Baz.

Why?

We’ve always hated each other. It’s no surprise he hates me. And, I still hate him. Right?

…

No. I don’t think I hate him anymore. He isn’t as bad as I thought, even though he hates me.

It’s a good thing the game is going on because if anyone in the floor below our room was there, they’d probably hear me. I try to muffle my sobs with his pillow, but every time I smell it, it hurts and I don’t know why.

I roll over and slide off the bed onto the floor.

I open the drawer of his wardrobe with the liquor in it. There’s a bottle of brown stuff that says Bunnahabhain on it. I smell it and it smells strong and unpleasant. I see another bottle with clear liquid in it and it’s half empty. It’s peach schnapps. I smell it and it smells delicious. 

I take a test sip. It’s sweet and the peach flavor is strong. There’s a bad aftertaste but I ignore it. I’ve never drank before, but I’m guessing that’s normal.

As I keep drinking, I start to feel weird. I feel hot. I want to open a window but the room no longer feels steady. It feels like a boat, and I don’t want to get up and fall over.

The more I drink the less the aftertaste bothers me and the more I’m able to drink.

It feels pleasant, but it doesn’t make me any less sad. I’m still crying. It still hurts.

It hurts worse than when I broke my rib.  
  
I wish Baz could ‘get well soon’ this pain away. I miss the feeling of his magic.

I reach back into the drawer and fish out his mother’s remembrance paragon. I know I shouldn’t. But I need to feel it. And I’ll be careful with it.

As soon as I touch it I feel the warm pleasant feeling radiate from it up my arm.

I choke out another sob. I don’t know if this is making me feel worse or better. 

The door opens and Baz walks in.

It surprises me, and my instinct is to protect the gem, so I clutch it against my chest. The heat from it flows through my torso and it feels really good and that makes me really sad so I start sobbing more.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Baz hisses.

I manage to get out an, “I’m s-sorry,” through the sobs.

“Are you sozzled?” he asks, looking at the empty bottle next to me.

I nod.

He walks up to me and holds out his hand for the gem. I give it to him. The loss of it makes me feel empty even though I’m full of my own magic.

He holds it and closes his eyes for a moment then puts it back where it belongs.

“For heaven’s snakes... So, I take it things didn’t work out with Wellbeleove?” he asks.

I shake my head and sniffle.

“Just as well. The game didn’t go well anyways,” he says, and sits on the floor next to me.

I don’t know why he’s not yelling at me.

“Since this day isn’t going to count then it won’t matter if I drink this,” he says, picking up the bottle of Bunnahabhain.

Baz takes out his wand and says “ **_Drink the pain away!_ **”

I stop crying. It still hurts. But not as much.

I give him a tentative smile.

He sneers.

Baz was probably just trying to shut me up and not make me feel better.

After some silence, I gesture at his bottle and try to ask, “Whads that?” It comes out slurred.

“Very expensive scotch.”

He offers me some, and I accept. When I take a swig, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. But I liked the schnapps better.

I hand it back to him and he says, “ **_Alexa, play music!_ ** ” and his iPod turns on and music starts playing. It’s playing something soft and calming.

“That’s not an Alexar,” I say.

“It’s a spell, you sloshed twit.”

“Oh.”

He takes the bottle still in my hand, and he drinks a lot of it.

We sit in silence as he downs half of the bottle. Then he starts _giggling_ .

“You’re so fucked,” he tells me.

I say nothing and he just laughs harder.

“We’re all so fucked,” he says. “‘One will come to end us.’ You stopped time. _You_ ended us.”

That doesn’t make any sense. That prophecy is about The Humdrum.

“I dinint stop time. I looped it,” I say, still slurring my words.

“It will never go past Saturday. It’s essentially stopped,” he says, then starts giggling as he continues. “And you’re the only one powerful enough to cause that and the least capable to fix it.”

I want to be mad. I don’t know if it’s because I’m pissed or if it’s the spell, but that’s making me laugh a bit too.

Then he laughs at my laugh. Then that makes me laugh more. Then we’re just laughing at each other for a bit.

When the laughter dies down, I ask, “If someone else had access to my magic, do you think they could fix it?”

Baz snorts and says, “yes.”

I chuckle a little and say, “I think I can give you my magic.”

He stops laughing and looks me in the eyes.

“That’s impossible.”

“In the forest, after the fight, we were surrounded by fire. And everytime someone tried to put it out it had almost no effect. Then I put my hand on you and I think I pushed some of my magic into you, and you were able to put out the whole fire with one spell.”

“Show me,” he says and takes my hand.

I almost pull my hand away, but then I realize I don’t want to. I breathe heavily. Why does this make me so nervous?

I push a little magic into him and he closes his eyes.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says.

I push more magic into him and ask, “How does that feel?”

“Grand.”

I wonder if he’ll let me take his other hand. Since when do I want to hold his hands?

I take his other hand and he doesn’t seem to notice or care.

“Do you think you can use this?” I ask.

“I think I could do anything with this,” he says.

“Try,” I say.

Right when I say that, the song Octopus's Garden by The Beatles comes on and it makes him smile.

He starts singing along to it.  
  
“ **_I'd like to be under the sea, in an octopus's garden in the shade!_ ** ”

Water rushes into the room, and I panic and grip Baz’s hands tighter.

In an instant the water fills up to the ceiling and we’re underwater and I’m holding my breath. The music is still playing but underwater it becomes a bit distorted but sounds louder and fills the space. I pull on Baz so we can try to swim out, but he just laughs.

He pulls me back and we’re floating a few inches above the ground. Is there no way out of this? Has he realized we’re going to die and just accepted it already?

I think I want to kiss him. Merlin and Morgana. I don’t know how long this has been going on.

But, if I’m going to drown, I think I want to kiss him first.

Then _he_ kisses _me_.

The part of me that wants to swim out the window to find air goes quiet as I put my hand on the back of his head and kiss him back.

His hair is like silk and waves in the water between my fingers.

I expected his mouth to taste coppery like blood but it tastes like alcohol but also sweet like vanilla. I didn’t know I had expectations for what his mouth would taste like.

Without losing contact, the hands we’re still holding adjust until our fingers are interlaced.

Baz’s kisses start trailing from my mouth to my cheek and down my neck. I feel like I should be afraid he’ll bite me. But I’m not.

I see a purple octopus swim by and I realize three of the walls are gone along with most of the furniture and there’s colorful coral and seaweed everywhere. The ceiling is gone and sunlight is gleaming all around us. It’s beautiful.

Baz sucks on a spot below my ear and it makes me gasp. The water fills my lungs like a cool spring breeze.

“I can breathe!” I shout. Oops. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

Baz just giggles but his mouth doesn’t leave my neck.

“I can also speak,” I say.

“Questionable,” Baz murmurs, still kissing me.

“This water tastes like air,” I say.

"You're a moron," Baz says in between kisses. "An absolute disaster. Abysmal excuse of a magician. Most gorgeous halfwit. Tantalizing failure.”

I try not to smile but I can't help myself.

“Best nightmare I’ve ever had,” he continues. “Outrageously handsome devil."

I take his chin and lead it back to my face so I can kiss him again. And I do. I kiss him deeply. It shuts him up even though I enjoyed listening to him. But I think I like this better.

He moans into my mouth and it makes my eyes flutter. I didn’t know my eyes did that.

I guess there’s a lot of things I didn’t know.

I break the kiss for a moment. I don’t want to. But I have to ask.

“If you weren’t drunk, would you have kissed me?”

“No,” he says.

I let go of his hand and the water whirls with a roar and drains and all the walls and furniture rematerialize.

We fall a few inches back to the floor. Everything feels so heavy. And dry. Like the room wasn’t filled with water seconds ago.

I feel tears well up again, then Baz puts a hand on my cheek. I try to look away, then he says, “Simon,” demanding my attention. He never calls me Simon.  
  
I look up at him and he says, “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I wasn’t drunk. But I would have wanted to.”

I must be staring at him with my mouth open because he rolls his eyes and says, “mouth breather. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for years.”

“So you are gay,” I say.

He looks at me incredulously and says, “Of course, you twit,” then kisses  me again.

I grab him and roughly push him to the floor. I’m not trying to hurt him so I think the anathema will forgive me.

I get on top of him on all fours a look down at him. He reaches up to kiss me and I kiss back. We kiss for a long time and I eventually settle on top of him.

I kiss him until my mouth is sore. Then keep kissing him.  
  
“I feel like I could do this forever,” I tell him then look at the clock. It’s 11:59. “What do you think happens if-” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip Penny
> 
> 1.) Thank you to Harry, Ari and Caden for helping.  
> 2.) Thank you to everyone who has stuck around long enough to read chapter ten. I really appreciate the comments. <3  
> 3.) I have finally figured out how I’m ending it so there’s going to be two more chapters and an epilogue.  
> 4.) Heads up, chapter eleven will be short.


	11. DAY ELEVEN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I fucking love this song. I’m half tempted to sing along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this pic of chapter ten makes up for how short this chapter is.

**DAY ELEVEN**

 

I pop into the day to the tune of my new favorite song.

 _If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_   
_Honey I'm still free_ _  
Take a chance on me_

I fucking love this song. I’m half tempted to sing along.

Apparently staying up past midnight doesn’t end the loop, but I have a plan now.

I see Baz fiddling with his hair in the mirror. I smile at him. I can’t stop smiling. It sucks that he doesn’t remember last night, but he’s been wanting to kiss me for years. _Years_!

While I watch him he either doesn’t notice me or pretends not to. I think he’s pretending not to.

When he turns around from the mirror he says, “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

That prat has been waking me up so I don’t miss breakfast all this time. He’s the most considerate dickhead of all time.

I close my eyes and think about last night. The way his hair felt between my fingers, the way his lips felt against mine, and the way his contagious giggles felt against my neck.

It’s still hard to believe that Baz giggles. Fucking perfectly composed, stoic, arshole Baz Pitch giggles.

I have so much to do today. I have to see if Penny is back. I have to tell Baz about being able to give him my magic. I have to break the loop.

But first, I have to kiss him again.

I hear the door slam, and open my eyes and see he’s gone.

I consider for a moment letting him enjoy breakfast and finding Penny first. But kissing Baz feels more urgant.

 _I’m going to kiss Baz Pitch._

I run out of the room, wearing nothing but pajama bottoms. He’s still at the top of the stairs.

I get in front of him so he can’t leave, then I put my hands on his head and kiss him.

He shoves me off and I fall down the stairs.

There’s a sharp pain right before everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) The game called “lets see how many times I can hit give Simon a head injury” continues. The score is Spock: 8 and Simon: 3.  
> This whole fic was sparked by the idea of Simon getting KOed, so I couldn’t not put in one more. 
> 
> 2.) It’s a pretty hard to explain what’s going on in Baz’s head without Baz POV, so I’m just going to explain it here. From Baz’s perspective, his enemy (yes crush, but still enemy) just surprised attacked/kissed him. He has no context for it and it caught him off guard. He didn’t mean to push Simon down the stairs. He was just shoving him off and he happened to be at the top of the stairs.  
> This is why you ask for permission before you kiss someone. 
> 
> 3.) Picture was done by Harry. https://www.patreon.com/CharacterForge/posts
> 
> 4.) I have written a smut alt ending that no one asked for. If you’re interested, here’s the link. (It’s completely different from how the story will actually end.) (It is EXPLICIT!) https://archiveofourown.org/works/20521808


	12. DAY TWELVE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I still fucking adore this song.

**DAY TWELVE**

 

I spring awake to what I hope one day Baz and I will call “our song.”

_ If you change your mind, I'm the first in line _ __  
_ Honey I'm still free _ _  
_ __ Take a chance on me

I still fucking adore this song.  


Lesson learned. Baz isn’t a fan of surprise kisses either.  


I smile as I watch him and he pretends not to notice again.

When he turns around from the mirror I say it with him. “It’s not my job to wake you up. Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty.”

He looks at me uncharacteristically puzzled. It makes me laugh, and that makes him glare.  


“What the fuck, Snow?” he snaps.  


It makes my confidence waver for a moment. What if he won’t kiss me again even after I explain everything?

“Your favorite song is Rebel Rebel. Your mom used to call you little puff. I’ve been stuck in a time loop for a long time and you’re helping me.”

“If this is a joke, Snow, it’s not funny,” he says.  


“It’s not. I have to check something, but I’ll go to the dining hall and bring you a teapot,” I tell him, while I get dressed. He crosses his arms and looks away as I put my trousers on.  


“Be right back,” I promise.  


* * *

When I get there, Penny and Agatha are not in their usual spot. I guess Baz is right and Penny is out of the loop. I really hope I can get back to her soon.

 I sigh because this means there’s no saved scones for me. There won’t be scones for me again until the loop is over. And there’s nothing else to eat for breakfast. This is a disaster.  


I go up to Dev and Neil, taking the teapot and empty cup.    
  
“Baz is sick and wants his tea,” I say and leave before they can react at all.   


* * *

When I get back Baz is sitting on his bed, arms and legs both crossed. I set the teapot on the nightstand, and I can’t help but smile at him stupidly.  


“What the fuck is going on,” he demands.  


I explain to him the loop while he sips on tea. I tell him about the first day we worked together on it and how we made Penny disappear. He laughs at that and I glare. I tell him about being able to give him my magic. (He’s most shocked by that last one, but he lets me continue).

“That day you tried  **a penny for your thoughts** , and I think you were able to read my mind,” I tell him.

He scoffs at that but then I put a hand on his shoulder and push some magic into him. Just a little bit. I know he can feel it because he stares at me gobsmacked.

If I can show him the last few days with this spell, maybe I can show him the night I helped Penny with her project.  


“Cast it,” I tell him.

He gets out his wand and says, “ **_a penny for your thoughts!_ ** ”  


We lock eyes.

I feel him in my head. I know here’s in here with me.  


I think about our underwater kiss. How badly I wanted to kiss him and how when he kissed me I liked it so much I literally forgot to breathe.  


I think about how much it hurt me when he said he wouldn’t have kissed me if he wasn’t drunk and how in love I felt when he told me he had been wanting to kiss me for years. Then how I got on top of him and didn’t stop kissing him until time ran out.  


Then I accidentally think about surprising him at the top of the stairs yesterday.

He blinks and I feel him gone.   


“You’re a moron,” he says.  


Fuck. It was just because he was drunk. He doesn’t want to kiss me anymore.  


I feel stupid and embarrassed, then he stands up and kisses me.  _ Again _ .  


Somehow being sober makes this better. I feel everything more clearly. The feeling of his surprisingly soft lips against mine makes me melt into him.  


He breaks away and says, “I didn’t push you down the stairs on purpose.”    
  
“Yeah. I know.”

“But I’m not sorry,” he says and kisses me again.  


I kiss the pompous git back. When I deepen the kiss, I taste the tea he was drinking.  


I don’t know if I pushed him or if his knees gave out but we fall back onto his bed with me on top of him. I like being on top of him.  


His mouth is cold and it makes me want to warm it up with my tongue so I do. His tongue seems to seek out warmth in my mouth and I welcome it. We eventually get into a rhythm with our tongues dancing together.  


When my stomach growls Baz lightly pushes me off of him.   
  
“What?” I ask, out of breath.   


“When I was in your head I saw most of the last few days.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Well, I know far enough back to know you you have no idea what ‘begone thot’ means and I know in detail enough to know your birds didn’t save you scones this morning and you aren’t sure which you’re going to miss more. The scones or Penny.”

“Of course I miss Penny more.”

“I literally just read your mind, Snow,” he tells me.  


“I- Uhh- Well, you said it yourself. Penny is fine. She’s just not in the loop.”

“I also know you were holding back giving me your magic and you think with more I can maybe recall what happened the night the loop began. But I don’t think I can remember something you don’t.”  


There’s no point in arguing this. I miss Penny but it’s hard to forget the scones when you’re starving.

“Stay here, and I’ll be back,” he says and leaves.  


I’m left sitting here with no idea what just happened. Is he mad?  


Also. We’ve kissed twice now. Does that make us boyfriends? He said he’s wanted to kiss me for years, so he wants to be my boyfriend, right? It’s hard to imagine what it’d be like to date Baz, but I really want to find out.  


After not too long he returns with a plate scones…

“How did you-”

“I have an in with cook Prichard,” he says offhandedly, giving me the plate.  


I immediately start stuffing my face then Baz clears his throat. I look at him and he’s holding out a butter dish and a knife.

I think I love him.

I start putting obscene amounts of butter on the scones before I eat them.  


He gives me a disgusted look but I’m enjoying this too much to be bothered. But when I’m finished I stand up brush the crumbs off.

“Ready?” I ask Baz.

He nods. I put a hand on his non-casting hand and another on his shoulder. (I think two hands completes the circuit). It looks like we’re about to do a formal dance, but instead he takes his wand out. I make all my magic free for him to use.

“ **_A penny for your thoughts!_ ** ”

We lock eyes again.  


I feel him in my head but it feels more intense. It feels deeper. When I try to recall anything all I can think is ‘Baz.’  


I try really hard to think of the night I helped Penny with her project but my mind is all over the place. I’m thinking about stealing that rabbit from Baz, reading The Captive Prince, Baz saving me in the woods, kissing Baz both times.  


Thoughts keep racing faster and faster into a blur.  


_ Getting jealous when Baz just looked at Agatha, smashing the remembrance paragon, Baz being sucked out the window, emptiness, guilt,  crying when time was slow and I was all alone and hungry, crying when I was getting beat up, crying when I thought no one loved me. _

_ Take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me, take a chance on me. _

_ Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! Get an alarm clock, you fucking numpty! _

_ Trophies clattering, burning scones, “Hiya, Simon,” sharp pain, blackness. Trophies clattering, burning scones, “Hiya, Simon,” sharp pain, blackness. Trophies clattering, burning scones, “Hiya, Simon,” sharp pain, blackness. Trophies clattering, burning scones, “Hiya, Simon,” sharp pain, blackness. Trophies clattering, burning scones, “Hiya, Simon,” sharp pain, blackness.  
_

“So you’re sure you want to marry Micah?” I ask Penny.  


“One hundred percent,” she says as she starts packing up her stuff in the library. “You know me. I don’t want a lot of people in my life, but the people I want in my life, I want them in my life forever.”

I’m so happy for her, but it also makes me sad. Agatha and I just broke up a week ago, and if I don’t get back together with her, and Penny goes to America to live with Micah, I’ll be all alone.  


_ “ _ **_I wish I had someone to spend forever with. I’d love them like there’s no tomorrow._ ** _ ” _

Penny’s eyes soften and she puts a hand on my arm and says, “Si,” to comfort me. _  
_

I feel Baz try to pull away. I try to as well but our minds feel intertwined and stuck. I try to withdraw my magic but I can’t. I focus on the grey of his eyes. Then I put all my effort into closing my eyes.  


There’s darkness then we are released.  


My legs give out but Baz is quick and catches me before I fall and holds me close.  


My eyelids are still too heavy to lift, but I hear Baz say, “Crowley,” then pick me up and put me in my bed. He’s so bloody strong.  


He sits on the bed next to me and asks “can you hear me?” as he gently grabs my hand.  


I hum in acknowledgement and he squeezes my hand.

“It definitely means we’re boyfriends now,” he says.

I smile and he says, “But you have to make sure I know that before you kiss me.”

I lift his hand to my mouth and kiss it.  


All that deep brain diving took a lot out of me, but I’m starting to recover. I open my eyes and Baz starts running his fingers through my curls.

“So, that’s what I said with magic? That I wish I had someone to spend forever with?” I ask.

“And that you’d love them like there’s no tomorrow,” Baz finishes.  


“Can you make a counterspell for that?” I ask.  


“No. Wishes aren’t spells so I’m not even sure how I’d start countering that.”

I frown.

“But, I have an idea,” he says. “You said you’d love them like there was no tomorrow. What if you loved them like there was a tomorrow. Breaking your vow?”

“What does that mean?” I ask.  


“You have to carry on like you will; otherwise you can’t carry on at all.”

“And what does that mean?” I ask again.

“You’re useless. You have to live a day where your actions satisfy you and with the intentions of it counting and it being Sunday tomorrow. ”

“Actions? Like what?” I ask.  


“You’re lucky I know everything about this loop, or it’d take you weeks to piece this together.”

“For one, you have to go to my game,” he says.  


“I can’t! I get hit in the face every time!”

“When you cast **right place, right time,** it put you at the pitch during the game. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think you’re supposed to be there,” he says.  


“I got hit in the face right after that.”

“It was the right place and right time, just wrong circumstance. Today I know to be careful not to kick the ball at you. Plus that day you psyched me out by knowing what I was going to do so I was on edge. And all the other times I was on edge from you rifling through my stuff. Today could be different.”

* * *

I want to be kissing Baz right now, but this loop needs to stop. Also Baz wanted to go find that rabbit he saw in my memory. (After reading my mind he knows I don’t really mind him being a vampire so he’s not as cagey about it.) So I’m jogging towards the pitch in my sweats, and lacrosse sweatshirt.  


I find Agatha on her run  in the courtyard on her way to the bridge. I remembered seeing her around there when looking for Baz. Her hair glows in the sunlight.  


I jog to catch up, and yell, “Agatha! Wait up!”  


She jogs in place until I reach her then we both continue.

“You and Penny weren’t at breakfast,” she says. “Whatever trouble you’re getting yourselves into, I don’t want anything to do with it.  


I can’t lie and say we haven’t gotten into trouble. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about so I try to sidestep that. “Actually, I spent the morning with Baz.”  


She stops and stares at me. “What do you mean?” she asks, her voice full of concern.   


“We’re actually getting along,” I say and gesture for us to keep going.  


Her feet don’t leave the ground. “Simon, he’s fucking with you.”

“Not this time. We’re over it,” I tell her.  


“You’re over almost seven years of being sworn enemies? After a day?”  


“It’s a bit more complicated, but yeah,” I say honestly.  


“So you wouldn’t care if I went out with him?” She asks.  


“Well- Uhh- It’s just-”  


Shit. I think if I told her Baz is my boyfriend, she’d think he cursed me or something. And I don’t know if it’s my place to tell people he’s gay.  


She sighs.

“Agatha,” I say. “I know we don’t make a good couple. And when you find someone else to be with, I’ll be happy for you. But we can stay friends, right?”

“You really mean that?” she asks, suspiciously.  


“With all my heart,” I promise.  


She hugs me tight. She does it so fast it catches me off guard, but then I hug her back. When she’s done I quickly let go.

We continue our jog through the wood. I try to make sure we stay on paths that won’t lead us to Baz.  


Agatha apparently had a lot to talk about that she thought she couldn’t before. She tells me about all her Normal friends and rants a bit about her mom's expectations of her. I never realized how much pressure was on her before. I never realized how much I contributed to it.  


I mostly just listen but when we head back to the drawbridge I promise her, “whenever the wars are over, we’re going to hang out and do whatever muggle stuff you want.”

She hates Harry Potter, but she knows what I mean.  


“Until then,” I continue. “Take as much time and space as you want. You can sit out the wars and after that we can play scrabble or something.”

She smiles and says, “Penelope and I would wipe the floor with you at scrabble.”  


I frown for a second because she’s right and if you add Baz to that, it only gets worse for me. But then I remember that this is a scenario where all the wars are over and I get to play board games with my friends and I can’t stop smiling.

As we’re parting, I ask, “see you at the game?”

She gives me a noncommittal, “maybe.”   


And that’s it. I head back to my room and she heads to hers.  


* * *

After showering and spending some time working on something special for the match, I head to lunch.  


When I get near the doors of the dining hall Philippa Stainton runs up to me, saying, “hiya, Simon!”

“Hey, Philippa,” I say and smile at her.  


“Do you want to go to the game tonight?” she asks me, sounding like Pinky Pie from My Little Pony.  


“I would love to go with you as a friend,” I tell her. (Baz told me to say that.)  


She looks a little torn between happy and disappointed.  


“I’m seeing someone,” I explain. “But I’ll be standing in front, cheering, if you want to join me.”

“Who are you seeing?” she asks.  


“It’s a secret for now. I don’t know if they want everyone knowing yet.”

She still looks disappointed so I say, “you’re a great girl and someday you’ll find someone who really appreciates you. It’ll happen. I’m sure of it.”  


She doesn’t seem to know what to say to that so I smile at her, say, “see you at the game,” and go into the dining hall.  


I get my usual: a plate of roast beef. Then I sit alone and eat it.  


I really hope today works.  


* * *  


By the time I get to the pitch a crowd has started to form. I had to stop at my room to get the poster I made.  


“Sorry, sorry,” I repeat as I bump into people, making my way to the spot in the front. I don’t know if anyone can actually hear me over all the yelling.

Wait. They’re not yelling. They’re cheering. Did we just score a goal? So early in the game?

When I get to my usual spot I see Baz getting hugged by his teammates then high fiving everyone near the enemy goal.  


Everyone runs back to their starting positions and Baz scans the crowd. When he looks at me, he uses his shirt to wipe sweat off his face and smiles. It makes my heart flutter and I realize I’ve felt this way before while looking at him on the pitch. I thought it was hatred but now I think it’s something more affectionate but equally as impure.  


I suddenly remember the poster. I try to unfurl it, but it’s too big. I used some spells to make it but they didn’t go quite right. It was supposed to be small enough for me to hold up but of course it turned out to be about two meters long. Also it was supposed to be the Watford colors but it came out rainbow and sparkly.  


At least the words are right. It says ‘Go Baz!!’ I tried to think of something more clever but I’m not the  best with words.  


Baz gives me a confused look for a moment, but then the match starts again and his eyes are on the ball.  


The ball starts going across the pitch like ping pong. Baz uses his head to bounce the ball to another player. (Now that I think about it, if I just tilted my head down, the ball would have just bounced off me instead of hitting me in the face.) (This is why I’m not on the team.)

I keep struggling to hold the poster up, but I can’t hold my arms out wide enough.

I get tapped on the shoulder and when I turn right to look, Philippa is standing next to me.  


“Need help?” she squeaks.  


“Actually, yeah.”

She smiles and takes the end.  


Then to my left Agatha appears and says, “Hi Simon.” She takes another end of my poster to help hold it up. She looks down at it to see what it says, then she stares at me like she’s saying ‘what the actual fuck?’ But she helps hold it up nonetheless.  


The match carries on. The ball spends a lot of time near our goal but the defenders and goalkeeper are doing their jobs. Every opportunity the enemy gets to score is shut down.

The ball starts making its way towards the side I’m standing at. It’s all too familiar. When it’s almost right next to me I flinch as Baz comes in to steal the ball. He slides on the grass, kicking the ball away from me and to another teammate, tripping the enemy player in the process.  


When Baz gets up, he gives me a quick wink before running off to the ball. I feel myself flush, then look at Agatha. She’s pink too. Did she think he winked at her?

On the enemy’s side of the pitch, our team is kicking the ball between each other to anyone who’s open, just keeping the ball away from the enemy until they get an opportunity.

They kick it to Baz who is facing away from the goal and has an enemy behind him. Instead of kicking it back to someone, he bumps it off his chest then throws his body backwards, kicking the ball up, over and behind him, bicycle kicking it into the goal!  


The crowd goes insane, cheering as Baz does a backwards somersault and jumps up like an acrobat. He looks behind him at the goal he just scored then puts his arms in the air as his teammates rush him for a short celebration.  


We’re winning two to nil and everyone is screaming excitedly including me.  


It’s probably unfair that he has vampire strength, but it’s too cool for me to be bothered. If he can play like Ronaldinho, I’m not going to complain. (Maybe Ronaldinho is a vampire too.)

Not much else happens when the first half is over. Both teams got some opportunities but neither scored. As long as our defense stays strong, we have this game in the bag.  


Baz jogs up to me and looks at the poster.  


“Snow, this is a football match. Not a pride parade.”  


“It wasn’t on purpose,” I tell him. “It was supposed to be the Watford colors.”

“What spell did you use?”

“ **Show your true colors** ,” I say.  


Baz snorts.  


Then he puts his hand on the back of my neck and kisses me.  


I hear gasps on each side of me. I feel the poster fall on my right side because Agatha let go.

Before I can turn to look at her, Marcus walks up behind Baz. “I didn’t know we had a poof on our team. Watch out in the locker room,” he says to the other teammates. “He might try to kiss you.”

A couple of them laugh but the rest stay silent. Baz turns around and sneers at him.  


Marcus doesn’t stop. “All these years you’ve been moaning about Snow and it turns out you like it when Snow makes you moan.”

I feel Agatha pick her side of the poster back up. I glance at her and she looks angry. I don’t know if it’s because of me and Baz or Marcus but I appreciate her not leaving. (This isn’t how I wanted to tell her I was dating Baz and I wouldn’t blame her for being upset.)

“Baz,” I say quietly. “Go kick his arse.” I know he can.

“Just ignore him,” Baz says quietly back.  


The whistle blows and it’s time for the match to start again. Everyone runs to their places.  


“Thanks for staying here with me,” I say to Agatha.  


“I don’t understand,” she says. “Why were you two trying to date me if you’re gay?”

“I don’t know if I am gay,” I say. “What I felt for you was real. And to be honest, this thing with Baz is new and I don’t know what it means but I do like him a lot.”

“Does Penelope know about this?”

“Not yet,” I say.  


“Tell her as soon as possible. If this is some sort of scheme Baz has set up, I don’t want to be involved.”  


“Okay. Thank you for staying,” I say again.  


“I wasn’t going to leave you alone while Marcus was talking like that,” she says.  


That makes me smile.  I know she doesn’t want to be around when there’s danger. But she stayed when she had every right and reason to leave. Because she cared.  


“How long have you two been dating?” Philippa asks.  


“One very long day,” I tell her.  


“So this could just be a fling and end soon?” she asks.  


“Maybe,” I say truthfully. “But I don’t think so.”

When I look back to the game, the ball is by our goal again. The enemy is passing the ball around to each other playing keep away basically. Then Baz comes up and gives the ball a powerful kick at our own goal. The ball hits the crossbar, ricochets off and hits Marcus in the face.

Marcus falls to the ground holding his face, someone kicks the ball out of bounds and the ref blows his whistle. Baz looks at me and mouths ‘oops,’ at me. I don’t think he did that on purpose, but it makes me chuckle. (He must have been aiming over the goal to clear it.)

After a few minutes, Marcus gets back up. There’s a little bit of applause. He glares at Baz. Good thing you can’t get a foul against a teammate. Not that anyone could reasonably believe Baz could have done that on purpose. To intentionally hit someone with a ricochet on a crossbar would be incredibly impressive.   


The ball gets thrown back into the game and they continue playing. The ball gets passed to someone on the enemy team. Marcus tries to get between them and their teammate, but they kick the ball through his legs and the other enemy player gets the ball and takes the shot. Our goalkeeper dives to the ball seconds too late and the enemy scores.  


Now we’re winning two to one. Still winning though.  


Marcus doesn’t look pleased while they go back to their starting positions. That goal was mostly his fault and everyone knows that. He shouldn’t have let the ball slip though like that.  


The match starts again and the ball gets bounced around a lot. Students are chanting.

“ _ Basilton Pitch! _

_ Basilton Piiiiitch! _

_ You hit Marcus! _

_ That’s fucking rich! _ ”  


I laugh. I guess Marcus has been making more enemies than friends lately. Whereas, despite his years of being a dickwad to me, Baz isn’t universally hated. He’s not cruel to anyone else and people tend to respect his talents.  


When it gets loud enough for Baz to hear it, he looks at the crowd and smiles. I hear some of the teachers trying to make the chanters stop and then it does die down.  


The ball stays on our side of the pitch for a while. The enemy is doing really well at keeping the ball in their possession, but our defenders are giving them hell and are keeping them from getting shots.  


It’s making me nervous though. If they get another goal, we’ll be tied.  


When the ball makes its way to the enemy goal, someone passes the ball to Baz and he has a perfect shot lined up. He kicks the ball and it hits the crossbar. The ball bounces off and hits Marcus in the face again, knocking him to the ground.  


Holy hell! Baz is doing that on purpose!

Baz runs over to the ball, ignoring Marcus. Once he has the ball again, a defender gets in front of him. Baz feigns right, then goes left around him and kicks the ball high. The goalie jumps to block the ball but he doesn’t jump high enough and the ball slips through, scoring us a third goal.  


The crowd goes wild while some officials run onto the pitch to check on Marcus. He ignores them.

Marcus gets up and stomps over to Baz, who’s getting his high fives after the group hug. Baz’s attention snaps to Marcus. He has a bloody nose. (Baz could probably smell him coming.) Marcus takes a swing at Baz and Baz leans to the left and evades. While Marcus is pushed forward from the missed hit, Baz pushes him the rest of the way, back onto the ground.

Marcus gets up and tries to tackle him. Baz just sidesteps him and Marcus tumbles to the ground again.

When Marcus gets back up, the other players are holding him back from Baz.  Marcus is shouting and pointing, but it’s too far to hear. Baz just shugs and looks bored.

It used to infuriate me that he can be so cool and collected while you shout at him, but seeing it now, it’s kinda sexy.

The other players pull Marcus to the sidelines and someone subs in for him.  


When the game starts again, people are back to their chanting.

“ _ Basilton Pitch! _

_ Basilton Piiiiitch! _

_ You hit Marcus twice! _

_ That’s wasn’t a glitch! _ ”

I guess since there’s no curse words the teachers aren’t bothering to stop it.  


Marcus glares at the crowd, then glares at me then he stalks off.

When the counter runs out and the match is over, everyone cheers because we won. Agatha gives me a look and walks away. (I don’t know what it means but it isn’t happy.) (Warning?) (Anger?) (Disapproval?)  


“She’ll come around,” Philippa squeaks.  


I turn to look at her and she says, “It’s not easy to find out the person you like is seeing someone else.”

Considering how I’d lose it when Baz just looked at Agatha, I can imagine how her and Phillipa feel after seeing Baz and I kiss.

I thank her and give her an awkward half hug before she leaves.  


Baz runs up to me while I’m rolling the poster back up.  


“This day better count, Snow,” he says then kisses me. “Did everything go well with the girls?”

“As well as could be expected,” I say. “But that kiss didn’t help.”

“I’ve gone too many years without kissing you. Now that I can, I have to make up for lost time.”

“Yeah, but now the whole school knows, including the football team,” I say.  


“I fucking dare anyone to hold my queerness against me,” he says seriously.  


“Marcus did.”

“And look where that got him. The majority of the team doesn’t care and anyone who does knows what I can do now,” he says.  


“I thought you said you wouldn’t compromise a game to hit me with a ball and if you wanted to you could just punch me after.”

“Yes. I could punch  _ you  _ after. Marcus is a teammate and my cousin. It’s better to leave intention ambiguous.”

“It wasn’t that ambiguous,” I say.

“Marcus’s options are to believe it was karmatic fluke or I’m one of the best footballers of all time. Either are fine by me.”

“Wait. Are you one of the best players of all time? Do you hold back during games?” I ask.  


Baz sighs and says, “I’m not impervious to the yips.”  


“Seriously?”  


“I’m going to take a shower and meet you back in the room,” he says and gives me one last kiss before he trots off.  


The pitch is pretty much empty now. Everyone must have rushed to the dining hall to celebrate.  


On my way back toward the drawbridge, Marcus steps out from under the shade of a tree.  


He starts coming at me so I throw my poster to the side just as he tackles me.

“What the fuck?” I shout, and use my arm to hold him away as we topple to the ground.

“Baz is untouchable but you aren’t,” he says and punches me in the ribs.

“You want to touch us?” I ask, totally confused.  


“Fuck no, you fucking bugger,” he yells and punches  me again in the same spot. It hurts like hell.

I roll over on top of him and pin his arms over his head. His face is all bruised from the footballs. He spits in my face.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I ask. “We didn’t do anything to you.”

“Didn’t do anything to me?” he laughs. “I have been working my arse off in school and on the pitch for years, trying to be the best at something. Anything. And Baz just does everything perfectly with ease. And now I finally found a flaw, and no one even cares.”

My grip loosens. “You think being gay is a flaw?”

He quickly gets a wrist free and he hits me upside the head, hitting my ear. It hurts and make my ear feel hot.  


If he knocks me out this whole day will have been a waste so I punch him in the face.  


He punches me in the same rib. It hurts but it’s not so bad with him pinned down. I punch him in the face again and he groans. I could probably beat him to a pulp if I wanted to, but I don’t want to hurt him. I just want him to leave me alone.

He gets his other arm free and starts trying to choke me. I can’t breathe but my right arm is free now so I punch him in the face again, harder than before.  


He lets go of me and as I try to get up and off of him, he takes out his wand and casts, “ **_back off!_ ** ”

I go flying back about a meter, and I get my wand out and shout, “ **_expelliarmus!_ ** ”  


His wand goes flying.

Holy fuck! That just worked.

 “You could have ripped my fucking arms off!”

He’s right. I could have. I shouldn’t have casted that. I wasn’t thinking. Maybe Penny was right about Harry Potter being a bad influence. But it fucking worked.  


“Run or I’ll try again,” I say.  


He looks at me trying to figure out if I’m serious. I give him my best crazy eyed look. (I’ve perfected it from my time in care.) He runs away toward the pitch.  


I take his wand and drop it in the fountain on my way to the room.

* * *  


When I get back to the room, I take off my shirt and go into the bathroom. I have a bruise forming on my side and my ear is red and swollen. There’s red marks on my neck from when Marcus tried to choke me.  


I decide to take another shower to get the dirt and grass off me.  


When I walk out of the bathroom wearing pajama bottoms and a towel around my neck, Baz walks in with my poster in one hand and a plate of bangers and mash in the other.

“What happened to you?” Baz asks, voice full of concern. I’ve never heard him sound like that before. It’s cute.  


“Marcus happened. But it’s fine. He’s way worse off than me.”

“I know. I saw his face. He passed me when I was on my way to the dining hall. I thought maybe I kicked the ball into his face too hard. Now I think I didn’t do it hard enough,” he says, sounding a bit angry.

“He’s just jealous,” I tell him. “You’re the best on the team, the top of your class, and now you have the hottest boyfriend too.”

“You’re not wrong,” he says.

He puts the poster and plate on my bed and gets out his wand.  


He leads me to his bed then gently pushes me onto it. He points to each spot and says, “ **_get well soon!_ ** ”  


I love the feeling of his magic. Not just because it dulls the pain. It is just a pleasant and comforting feeling.

“The only person allowed to leave marks on you is me,” he says, then sits down next to me and starts sucking on my neck. I think he’s trying to leave a hickey. It feels really good and I let out a happy sigh.  


He spends a long time kissing me, and I’d be happy to let him do it all night. But then my stomach growls, and he says, “eat.”  


He gestures to me to scoot back against the pillow and headboard, then gives me the plate.  


As I’m eating, I say, “I think this is the first time I’ve had dinner in twelve days.”  


“I know. That’s why I brought it to you. I didn’t think it was possible for you to forget a meal. But there’s a lot of things I didn’t think were possible,” he says.  


“To be fair, I didn’t make it to dinner very often.”

While I eat, Baz takes the poster and uses a spell to stick it to the wall over his trophies.  


“I thought you didn’t like my poster,” I say.  


“I don’t. It’s hideous,” he says.  


“Fuck off.”

He goes into his wardrobe and takes out some pajamas and goes into the bathroom. I kinda wish he didn’t go. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a shirt. And I really want to.  


When he comes out, he’s in his fancy pajamas and I’ve finished eating. He takes the plate from me and puts it on my bed.  


“So, do you think we succeeded,” Baz asks, leaning against the bedpost.  


“Hmm?”

“Making the day count,” he elaborates. “Did today go well? Did you really put in effort with tomorrow in mind?”

“Yes,” I say. “Everything went really well today. It’ll suck if it doesn’t count. The only bad thing that happened is Mucus.”

“But do you have any regrets?”  


“No. I think we both showed him he shouldn’t fuck with us today. And it was in a way that won’t be a pain to deal with if tomorrow comes, unlike the time in the woods. That would have been a nightmare to explain.”  


“Good. I think this might work then,” he says. “The more stuff you don’t want others to forget, the better our chances, I think.”

“I wouldn’t want you to forget the first night we slept in each others arms.”

Holy shit, I don’t think I’ve ever said something that smooth before. It just came out. Like I’d been waiting to say it.  


Baz turns a little pink.

“Of course, we don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I quickly say.   


“Get up.” I do.  


Baz pulls up the covers and says, “get in.” I do.  


He reaches for the chest on top on his wardrobe and sets it on the desk. He opens it and takes out the first book and gets in bed with me.  


“Are you going to read to me?” I ask.  


“If you shut up, I will,” he says.  


I stay quiet and get comfortable. I lean my head on his shoulder so I can see the page too. There’s a picture of what looks like a baby in a walnut shell.  


Baz clears his throat then starts reading. “ _ ‘Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. _ ’”

His reading voice is amazing. He should become a professional audiobook narrator.  


As he reads more I cuddle up to him more. I know we’re boyfriends now, but it still surprises me he lets me do stuff like this. I lay on my side, put one leg over him and put my head under his arm and on his chest. He struggles to readjust so he can see the pages, but he does it without complaining.  


The vibrations from his chest against my head are relaxing and his body is nice and cool. The book is entertaining, but the day has been long and I feel myself drift off.  


“‘“ _ Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,” said Hagrid. “Harry — yer a wizard. _ ”’ …  **_Nox!_ ** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) Eeshk! One more chapter! 
> 
> 2.) Thank you to everyone for reading! Triple thanks to commenters. I love you guys and your comments are amazing. 
> 
> 3.) Thanks to Harry, Ari and Caden for helping. Especially Ari for making the fight scene a bit more realistic. 
> 
> 4.) Poster done by Harry. 
> 
> 5.) I know I’m the one who wrote it, but I’m having a hard time imagining Baz reading what Hagrid says. 
> 
> 6.) I don’t intend to make the last chapter short. I plan to make it as long as I can. But I’ve never written a real ending before so I’m not really sure how it’s going to go down. But I feel like I should warn you that it could be short if I can’t think of anything.


	13. SUNDAY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s no music!” I shout.

**SUNDAY**

 

Something is tickling my nose. That’s all I know.

I lift my hand to move it away, but my hand smacks into something.

“Oww,” I hear.

I open my eyes, look down and see a mess of black hair.

Baz is laying next to me with his head on my chest.

“Good morning to you too,” Baz says.

My heart starts racing. Everything is different. I’m in Baz’s bed. With Baz. It’s so quiet. Why is it so quiet? …

“There’s no music!” I shout.

Baz groans and says, “indoor voices, Snow.”

I wrap my arms around him and kiss him on the forehead.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for Sunday!” I say excitedly.

“Yes, I do. Again, I literally read your mind and know everything.”

I relax a bit and say, “this is so weird.”

“Us being together?”

“No. Well. Yeah. Kinda of. But no. Just, it being Sunday. I’ll have to get used to my actions counting,” I explain.

“Also you have homework due tomorrow,” he says.

I tense up. “It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve studied anything. I don’t remember anything.”

“It’s not like you knew the material before,” he says.

“Shut up.”

“Don’t worry. Bunce will help you get caught up,” he says.

“Penny! We have to go see if she’s back!” I shout and start to get up.

Baz pulls me back down and says, “she’s back. Don’t worry.”

“I still need to see her.”

Baz rolls on top of me and says, “It’s still early. We have time before breakfast ends.”

“Time for what?”

He kisses me.

I put my hand on the back of his neck and kiss back. These aren’t like the passionate and desperate kisses from when we were underwater. They’re slow and lazy. They’re relaxing and kind. (Not what I’d expect from Baz but it’s a pleasant surprise.)

I don’t know who initiated it but quickly the kiss deepens. I put my other hand on his hip.

We kiss like that for a while then Baz stops and clears his throat. He looks at me expectantly. Then I become all too aware of it.

I feel my cheeks heat up and Baz rolls off of me, smirking.

“I’ll- I’ll be right back,” I say, excusing myself to the toilet.

While I’m in there I also brush my teeth and wash my face.

When I come out Baz is already dressed. He doesn’t really acknowledge me. He lifts up his shirt and uses it to wipe his face. I see the hint of abs he has and feel my heart flutter. It makes me think of all those times I’d seen him do that on the pitch.

He lets go of his shirt and smiles at me cockily.

Was I staring?

Wait.

“Oh, sod off. You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” I ask.

“Doing what?”

“You know what I was thinking each time I saw you during the loop. This is so unfair. You know every embarrassing thought I’ve had. Let me read your mind,” I say.

“Absolutely not,” he says. “You’ve already rifled through all my belongings and worse. I’d say we’re even.”

I would argue, but I really want to make sure Penny is back. Also, scones.

So I get dressed. Baz averts his eyes as usual. I had never changed clothes in front of him before the loop because of our mutual paranoia, but once the loop started it didn’t seem to matter. Now I’m just used to it. I wonder what he’s thinking.

* * *

When we get to the dining hall, I look at our usual spot. My heart sinks because it’s empty.

Baz ignores me and sits with Dev and Neil to drink his tea.

I’m starting to panic because I don’t see her anywhere. I feel my magic leaking and look at Baz. He looks at me but there’s no expression on his face.

I scan the room frantically, and I see Agatha in the back so I run up to her.

“Have you seen Penny?” I ask.

“I actually haven’t seen her since Friday.”

I feel dizzy so I sit down. I start raking my fingers through my hair. My magic is spilling everywhere and it smells like there’s a fire. People start looking around.

If she’s not here, where is she? The spell put her out of the loop, but there’s a lot of places that aren’t in the loop. There’s an infinite amount of places that aren’t in the loop. She could be anywhere. I have to find her. I did this. This is my fault.

“Are you okay?” Agatha asks.

I’m on the verge of tears. I know if I talk I’ll cry so I stay silent.

Agatha gets up and walks over to Trixie. They talk to each other for a few moments then Agatha comes back.

“Trixie said she hasn’t seen Penelope in the room since Friday night… Is everything okay? Do we need to talk to The Mage?” she asks.

“No,” Baz says behind me. It makes me jump.

“We’ll find her,” he says.

Agatha glares at him. Even though I’m pretty sure she fancied him, I don’t think she trusts him.

He takes her plate that has a couple scones on it without asking and says, “let’s go, Snow.”

Agatha doesn’t protest.

* * *

When we get to the room I say, “you said she’d be back!”

I don’t really blame him. I know it’s my fault. I’m just upset. She could be anywhere. Or even any time!

I’m sitting on my bed, breathing heavily and sweating. I feel like I can’t get enough air. I inhale harder and it doesn’t feel like enough.

Baz puts the scones on the nightstand then puts his hands on the sides of my head and says, “I promise I’ll bring her back. Okay?”

I think about it. It was my fault. I should be the one to bring her back. But I don’t know how.

“Okay?” he asks again, more sternly.

“Okay,” I agree and he kisses my forehead.

“Eat while I think,” he commends.

I sit back in my bed and start eating one of the scones. It’s cold and to be honest, I prefer it that way now.

Baz gets out a notebook and starts writing things. I’m not sure what he’s writing, but he seems to be taking this seriously.

On one hand, I really appreciate him really trying to help. But on the other, the fact that he is trying so hard makes it sink in how dire this is.

What if I erased her completely? What if I never get her back? What will I do when I’m done with school? What would I tell her family?

_I’m sorry, Professor Bunce. I fucked up time and when your daughter tried to help me fix it, I killed her. Now she’s gone forever. And I’m still here.  
_

It should be me who’s gone. It’s not fair that I’m the fuck up and everyone else pays the price for my mistakes. It should have been me.

Baz puts down his notebook, staring at me and I realize tears are streaming down my face. He gives me this look of concern then a loud ragged sob comes out of me. It surprises me with how loud it is. And after that I keep sobbing

Baz immediately gets up, crosses the small space between our beds. He lifts me up and hugs me tightly.

“ _It should have been me,_ ” I start saying quietly.

Baz gently shushes me, so I say it louder. I keep saying it louder and louder until I’m almost yelling it.

“ _IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!_ ”

Baz turns me away from him. I’m pretty much limp his his arms. He wraps his arms around me, kissing the back of my neck.

He slowly lowers us onto the floor. He’s leaning against a nightstand and has me sitting in front of him while he hugs my back tightly against his chest. His legs are on each side of me.

Something about the physical pressure of being held like this calms me down. I’m not yelling anymore but still sobbing.

“It was technically my fault,” Baz says quietly.

“How?” I ask though sobs.

“I’m the one that came up with the spell. It was my idea.”

“No,” is all I can get out. And I say it over and over again. His spell probably would have worked fine if I wasn’t such a failure of a magician. It was my fucked up magic that ruined his perfectly good spell.

“Simon… Simon… It was an accident,” he says then kisses the side of my head. “And we’ll get her back. We can share magic. With your power and my precision, we could move mountains. We could do anything.”

He keeps kissing the side of my head, so I turn towards him and our lips meet. I love the feeling of his soft cool lips against mine.

“You really believe that?” I ask him.

“I know it,” he says and kisses me more.

We spend a long time kissing like that and the tears have stopped. Eventually my neck starts hurting so I turn around. I’m on my knees in front of him, leaning over him and kissing him.

It’s amazing how each kiss with him feels different. These kisses are slow like the ones from this morning, but they aren’t lazy. They feel like they mean something. Like they mean something more than words. Something I’ve never felt before.

My breathing becomes shallow. I stop kissing him for a moment to catch my breath.

His face is so perfect. His brow is slightly furrowed with worry. It’s a look I’ve never seen before. And his mouth is hanging open like he’s inviting me back in. He looks so caring. And wanting.

It hits me like a train how sexy he looks.

I immediately start lifting up his shirt. He lifts his arms to let me pull it off him and I take that as approval.

Once I get the shirt off I throw it across the room, and stare at his torso. His body is so perfect. His skin is flawless and you can see the hints of muscle under it.

I realize we’re both just panting, looking at each other, so I start kissing him again. These kisses are ravenous. We’re both pushing into each other while each of our tongues seeks the others mouth, like no matter how close we are to each other, we’re not close enough.

I put a hand on his abs to feel them and Baz moans into my mouth.

I realize I’m getting the same problem I had before breakfast.

“Great snakes!” Penny yells.

I turn around so fast and my knee bumps into Baz’s leg, causing me to fall on my arse next to him.

But Penny! She’s here! She’s standing there, staring at us, wide eyed.

Baz reaches for a pillow on the bed and uses it to cover his chest.

“You’re back!” I yell excitedly.

“What in the bleeding hell is going on?” she asks.

I look between her and Baz a few times.  
  
“Well… Erm- Uhh- We- Well”

“We're out of the loop. Welcome to Sunday,” Baz says. When I look at him he looks nervous. Baz has so many emotions I have never seen before.

“Well obviously,” she says. “But what about?...” She gestures at the two of us.

I get up and hug her.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” I say. “I have so much to tell you.”

“Clearly,” she says, eyeing Baz.

I put my arm around her, and start leading her toward the door.

“There’s just one thing I need you to do first,” I say as I open the door.

We go through and I close it behind us.

“In five minutes, I need you to use your ring and say **your time is up!** Okay?”

“Why?” She asks.

“I promise I’ll explain everything in five minutes, okay?”

“Alright,” she says, still confused.

“Thanks, Pen! You’re the best,” I tell her, and go back in the room.

Baz is about to put his shirt back on and I say, “stop.” He does.

I walk up to him and take his hand, take my wand out and say, “ **_All the time in the world!_ **”

“What did you just do?” Baz asks.

“We have an hour alone. Let’s make it count.”

I kiss him then push him onto the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) Thank you to Harry, Ari and Caden! Your input has been invaluable! 
> 
> 2.) Thank you to everyone who finished my fic! Thank you for the kudos! Thank you for the comments! Your support has been amazing! 
> 
> 3.) No promises but I’m sorta considering making a sequel to this. One day. Maybe. I have a couple vague ideas for it. (It’ll be third in the series if I do write it, since the alt ending is second.)
> 
> 4.) Also no promises but I’m thinking about writing a Ready Player One AU where Simon and Baz meet basically online with virtual reality. But with Wayward Son about to come out, reading that will be my priority and it could give me other ideas. So we’ll see.
> 
> 5.) If you have any questions about the story or what happened to anyone after the story, I will tell you. But if I end up writing a sequel, all that might not count anymore. It’ll be like placeholder cannon.


End file.
